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Health from Knowledge 



Health from Knowledge 






or 



The Law of Correspondences as 
Related to Psycho-Therapy 

in Seven Lectures by 

W. J COLVILLE 

Author of 

Old and New Psychology; Life and Power from Within; Destiny 

Fulfilled; Dashed Against the Rock; The Throne 

of Eden; Mental Therapeutics; 

Universal Spiritualism ; The 

Living Decalogue. 



First Edition, 1909 



Published by 

Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Co, 

New York City, U. S. A. 



*v& 



"'*> 







©CU 2516 7 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction . . . . 7 

I. The Law of Correspondences, — The 

Problem Stated . . . .11 

II. Specific Correspondences. — Practical 

Suggestions for Healing . . 27 

III. Astrology and Mental Healing. — 

Twelve Manners of People — Their 
Peculiarities and Liabilities . .47 

IV. Healing of the Nations and Redemp- 

tion of the Twelve Distinctive 
Tribes ...... 66 

V. Enigmas Confronted in Healing . 87 

VI. Our Bodies, What Are They ? How 

Shall We Deal With Them ? . .108 

VII. The Spiritual Man. — His Powers and 

Privileges . . . . 127 



HEALTH FROM KNOWLEDGE, 

OR, 

THE LAW OF CORRESPONDENCES AS 
RELATED TO PSYCHO-THERAPY. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The following course of Lessons has been prepared 
in response to the urgent request of many students in 
various parts of the world, who, having read with in- 
terest and profit many works on Spiritual and Mental 
Healing, have expressed a fervent desire for some 
added statements concerning the most effectual way of 
making the general theory practical in special in- 
stances. 

The subject of Correspondences is now attracting 
great attention in many circles, and as we are thor- 
oughly convinced that it is a very rich mine of wealth 
for all who are willing to diligently explore it, we 
have set ourselves the task of attempting to reason 



Health from Knowledge 

out, in as simple and logical a way as possible, some 
of those obvious correspondences between inward and 
outward states which only need to be impartially in- 
vestigated to be rendered plain to the general percep- 
tion of humanity. 

The days of willing ignorance and of blind devotion 
to ancient renderings and established precendents are 
happily fast drawing to a close, so that now, instead 
of submission to accepted limitations, the human fam- 
ily is clearly bent on acquiring mastery over all those 
conditions which are ignorantly denominated Fate. 

Science is proclaiming through its votaries every- 
where, the immutability of Order, therefore Scientists 
of every ilk are growing daily more and more pre- 
pared to welcome any system of teaching which is 
founded upon the rock of unmistakable sequence, 
while they are properly distrustful of whatever is 
even partially based on the sand of partiality or favor- 
itism. 

The Oriental word Karma has now become a rec- 
ognized addition to the English language, and we 
have occasionally employed it in our lessons because it 
conveys such an abundant wealth of meaning in the 
space occupied by only five letters. The definition 
herewith given (viz., sequence,) is the chief meaning 
the present author attaches to it. We therefore re- 
quest the reader, before going further, to fully master 



The Law of Correspondences 

this definition. Karma signifies the unvarying, un- 
alterable relation, perpetually existing between Cause 
and Effect, consequently our Karma can never be 
anything other than what we have brought and are 
bringing upon ourselves through our own action on 
one or more of the various planes of our existence. 

There is no such thing as good and evil Karma. 
But we must not fail to live up to the essentially 
sound doctrine that it is just as legitimate that we 
should pay the penalty of error as that we should reap 
the blissful results of righteous conduct. 

Deliverance from error there is, but escape from 
penalty there is not; however, the first step has not 
been taken along the path of genuine spiritual prog- 
ress until the student of Truth has fully grasped the 
blissful assurance that every result of every action is 
the best possible result that could proceed from that 
particular act. 

The system of healing elaborated in the following 
pages is strictly based upon the axiom whatsoever a 
man sows that shall he individually reap. 

Sympathy with effort is praiseworthy, but to sym- 
pathize with distress is unscientific. As ignorance of 
universal law excuses no one from penalty, sufferers 
need not be sinners, and as penalties are invariably 
educational and essential to progress they cannot be 
remitted because they are necessities. 



Health from Knowledge 

The aim of this text-book is to help people to help 
themselves and others, not to evade consequences or 
shirk responsibilities, but to so govern their thinking, 
speaking and acting, that through constant sowing 
of good seed, and naught other, harvests of good and 
pleasant fruit may be inevitably secured through con- 
scious, intelligent co-operation with universal order. 

W. J. Colville. 

New York, September, 1909. 



10 



THE LAW OF CORRESPONDENCES 
APPLIED TO HEALING. 



Lesson I. 

THE LAW OF CORRESPONDENCES. — THE PROBLEM 
STATED. 

The word Correspondence is one which must not be 
confounded with such a term as allegory, or inter- 
changed with any expression which denotes some- 
thing arbitrary or fanciful. Correspondences are 
exact; they are true to nature at every turn, and can 
be exactly interpreted by a study of the unalterable 
relations between the seen and the unseen, or the 
subjective and the objective, which inhere in the 
changeless constitution of the universe. 

No student of the Bible, and no careful reader of 
any section of Oriental literature, can fail to remark 
how very frequently natural illustrations are em- 
ployed by the wisest of teachers in their method of set- 
ting forth spiritual truth in human language. 

To follow out all the obvious correspondences in a 
single book in the Bible would be a lengthy task, 
while the attempt to explain every natural similitude 
would necessitate years of work and the publication 
of numerous bulky volumes. 

11 



Health from Knowledge 

There are four distinct groups of correspondences 
to which we desire to call especial attention, as we 
shall need to refer to them frequently in this series of 
Lessons : 

First ; The various parts of the human body ; 
Second: Sun, moon and stars; 
Third: Animals, vegetables and minerals; 
Fourth: Utensils manufactured by man for his 
own use. 

The first and second of these four groups are uni- 
versal. The third is less than universal, though 
wholly natural. The fourth is artificial. 

The first and second divisions of correspondences 
are so closely allied that the ancients were accustomed 
to class them together, and the tendency to do so still 
is obvious in the writings of many modern Mystics, 
Theosophists, and others who speak of the human 
Zodiac with its twelve manners of people, and who 
teach Astrology from an Esoteric standpoint. No 
matter where we live, or to what nation we belong, as 
members of the human family we are all possessed of 
human bodies, which are alike in structure the world 
over. 

The unity of the race is nowhere so clearly proved 
as in structural anatomy and physiology; for when 
the human shape is once comprehended, its parts 

12 



The Law of Correspondences 

known, and their functions described correctly, the 
student of the human organism has grasped informa- 
tion of universal import and value. 

Ascending in thought from a contemplation of the 
single human person till we take in the idea of the 
Social Organism, we are never called upon to change 
our anatomy, physiology, or psychology, only to en- 
large the field of their application. 

When we contemplate the wonders revealed 
through Astronomy it is the same; the order is three- 
fold in both instances. Spiritual, intellectual and per- 
sonal in the one case ; solar, planetary and lunar in the 
other. Stars are grouped in galaxies ; worlds are con- 
stellated in systems. Everywhere there is plan or 
order, and this is threefold. Wise philosophers, in- 
cluding Ralph Waldo Emerson, have exclaimed, 
"Man is his own star," and profound students of stel- 
lar science, who have favored any astrological theory, 
have boldly pronounced the thrilling words, "The 
wise man rules his stars, the foolish man obeys them." 

The whole difference between the wise and the fool- 
ish on earth is that the former are governors of the 
world around them, while the latter are governed by 
it. Self-government is the first step; government of 
exterior conditions is the second, on the road to abid- 
ing victory. A careful analytical study of the human 
shape reveals the fact that it contains an exact corres- 

13 



Health from Knowledge 

pondence with everything existent in the ample do- 
main of nature external to a human personality. 

Sun, moon and stars are all within as well as with- 
out us, and the same is true of all varieties of minerals, 
vegetables and animals. 

Students of Esoteric philosophy, whose desire it is 
to make practical use of Esoteric verities in Exoteric 
relations, soon come to clearly perceive that there is 
nothing outside of a man which can affect him, either 
for weal or woe, except through the outworking of the 
law of correspondence. There are absolutely no lim- 
its to the truth of this statement, but, because of its 
axiomatic character and far-reaching significance, it 
is repudiated by many, because its very accuracy ren- 
ders impossible the magical phenomena which many 
superficial inquirers into Occultism desire instantane- 
ously to produce. So many treatises upon the Occult 
are written in the hieroglyphical style of Paracelsus 
and other distinguished alchemists, that the general 
reader is bewildered rather than enlightened when he 
endeavors to make practical use of the "jargon of the 
initiated." 

Whatever may have been the reason, in centuries 
gone by, for purposed concealment and predeter- 
mined mystification, or for the employment of a ter- 
minology translatable only by members of secret fra- 
ternities, the time has now come for rending the veil 

14 



The Law of Correspondences 

and putting forward the deepest truths of mystical 
philosophy in the clearest possible language. But, 
though clarity of expression is a desideratum, the fact 
remains immovable as ever, that no one can initiate 
his neighbor; though anyone who is already in the 
possession of knowledge can impart it to all who are 
willing to apply themselves faithfully to the learner's 
task, which is to appropriate information and demon- 
strate its usefulness by actual employment thereof. 

Once let an individual soul, here embodied for ter- 
restrial expression, grasp the truth that soul is master 
and flesh is servant, that individual has found the mys- 
tic key which can unlock every door in the universe 
which needs unlocking before the embodied entity can 
stand forth in that sovereignty of dominion which 
rightly pertains to divine offspring. The 8th psalm 
is one of the finest lessons in Divine Science or Uni- 
versal Theosophy to be encountered anywhere, but 
even that majestic shout of exultation has been per- 
verted by false theology, and pressed into the service 
of a contemptible view of human nature. The great- 
ness of humankind is emphatically declared in words 
which can be correctly rendered. "How great is man 
that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man 
that Thou visitest him; for Thou hast made him but 
little lower than Elohim, and hast crowned him with 
glory and honor. Thou makest him to exercise do- 

15 



Health from Knowledge 

minion over the works of Thy hands ; Thou hast put 
all things under his feet." 

The lower or earthborn man, the result of fleshly 
generation, contains all the animals, birds, fishes, rep- 
tiles and other creatures which are mentioned in this 
psalm, and only as the higher, spiritual, God-derived 
nature dominates this inferior sense-creation, can any 
human being really know what it means to be truly 
human. We are not animals, but we contain all ani- 
mals. The human shape is integral, embodying the 
whole, while all animal and other fractional shapes ex- 
press less than the unit, albeit, whatever they express 
is contained within the unit, the fullness of which is 
expressible only in a human body. 

All attempts at fighting fate or struggling against 
surroundings are worse than useless, for such pugil- 
ism only brings a sense of weakness, defeat and disap- 
pointment in its train. But some are sure to ask, "Do 
you mean to tell us that we are to make no efforts to 
reach the goal or win the prize? You surely cannot 
mean that victory is gained without conflict! Are 
there no foes to fight, no enemies to subdue, ere we 
can reach perfection? 

As such questions are very common, and not at all 
unnatural, we seek to reply to them in an unmistak- 
able manner. 

Victory or triumph is gained by encountering nec- 

16 



The Law of Correspondences 

essary material which is far from being inimical, as it 
is truly that out of which our highest artistic product 
is to be fashioned. The potter and the clay, or the 
sculptor and the marble, will suffice at this point as an 
adequate illustration. 

The statue is made out of marble, and the various 
vessels which pay tribute to the potter's skill are fash- 
ioned out of clay. No marble, no bust in the sculp- 
tor's studio; no clay, no beautiful vessels in the pot- 
ter's workshop. Can the marble in the one place, or 
the clay in the other, be bad, evil, wicked, or anything 
to be fought against, when those very materials are 
necessary to the work which the artist is determined 
to accomplish? "No cross, no crown" is exactly in 
line with what we are teaching. The cross may be 
composed of iron and be hard to carry; the crown is 
made of gold and is worn as a symbol of victory. The 
one grows out of the other, therefore the latter could 
not be if the former had not been. 

Viewed from this standpoint there are no crosses 
which we are justified in rebelling against or calling 
evil, for the very idea of a cross is the blending of two 
lines of equal length, one perpendicular, the other 
horizontal. There are two forms of a cross true to 
nature. The one (anatomical) is the Christian the- 
ological cross; the other (astronomical) is common to 
all arts and to all sciences. The Christian cross is the 

17 



Health from Knowledge 

human cross, and as such, needs to be interpreted en- 
tirely apart from those special meanings which have 
been assigned to it by dogmatic theologians. The 
human body can be perfectly measured only by a 
scale of twelve, and the twelve distinct portions of the 
human anatomy correspond to the twelve signs of the 
Zodiac, therefore it is quite easy to strip many ancient 
mysteries of their profound occultism and talk in 
plain language of the smaller individual body and 
the larger Social Organism. The twelve tribes of 
Israel, twelve apostles of the Lamb, twelve manners 
of fruit growing on the tree of life, twelve gates to the 
Holy City, — New Jerusalem, twelve foundations, 
etc., etc., all refer to the perfect structural organism of 
humanity, an organization which when perfect is ex- 
actly the same on the largest as on the smallest scale. 
In further pursuance of the study of anatomy we 
discover that the height, length and breadth of the 
human figure are equal, as a perfectly symmetrical 
human body measures exactly the same from the 
crown of the head to the ball of a heel, as it measures, 
when both arms are extended, from the point of the 
middle finger of the right hand to the extremity of the 
middle finger of the left hand. The measure of the 
perfect man, or angel, is the sign of the cross. In hoc 
signo vinces is therefore susceptible of an expressly 
anatomical interpretation. Instead of denouncing or 

18 



The Law of Correspondences 

deriding the cross as many shallow would-be "liberal- 
ists" are accustomed to do, it is highly important that 
sincere students, imbued with the spirit of scientific 
scrutiny, should give to the world a truly irrefutable 
answer to the question, What do you mean when you 
say the Master bids us take up our cross (each one 
his own cross) and follow him? 

The Master, or Messiah, is whosoever has taken up 
perfectly his own cross and is therefore capable of 
making a perfect demonstration in the eyes of others 
of the way of so doing. Readers of the Gospel 
narratives would do well to bear in mind that in many 
places we are informed by the Evangelists that the 
teacher told his students or disciples that they must 
take up their cross, before he intimated to them the 
slightest probability of his literal submission to the 
Roman mode of punishment meted out to capital of- 
fenders, and as no explanation is vouchsafed in any 
one of the evangels, it is but reasonable to decide that 
the writers took it for granted that the expression 
Deeded no interpretation, it being self-explanatory. 

As a cross can only be perfectly made of two beams 
of equal length pointing in opposite directions and 
collectively to the four points of the compass, the sym- 
bol of the square is also suggested, and the perfect 
circle encloses the figure when the diagram is made 
complete. 

19 



Health from Knowledge 

As these correspondences are completely true to na- 
ture, and are absolutely universal, they rank first in 
the order of importance, and ought to be carefully 
studied and well comprehended by every student seek- 
ing to become proficient in the theory of Divine Sci- 
ence, a theory, by the way, which is absolutely practi- 
cal as it can be perfectly demonstrated to human un- 
derstanding, and made the all-efficient basis of a sys- 
tem of healing which, as the word implies, is making 
whole. 

The more deeply we study into the beauties of pure 
anatomy and physiology the more do we see how very 
helpful it is to have a clear idea of the human struc- 
ture in health and perfection. The study of disease 
or the so-called science of pathology is a drawback in- 
stead of an advantage to a Metaphysical practitioner, 
because it tends to corrupt the visionary faculty, and 
scientific mental healing includes the presentation of 
mental pictures of the right sort to the sub-self of the 
patient. Of course it follows that outward represen- 
tations of like character greeting the physical eye can 
be of great service, especially in cases where oral sug- 
gestion is found to be a valuable adjunct to silent 
treatment. 

As there are very many garbled notions afloat as to 
the mental attitude which a healer should sustain to a 
patient, and further, as denials are often nauseating 

20 



The Law of Correspondences 

and tend to spread the very maladies they are intended 
to destroy, we deem it imperatively necessary to for- 
mulate for the widest possible circulation a brief cate- 
chism which, though by no means exhaustive or com- 
plete in detail, is, we are convinced, not only correct in 
outline, but highly suggestive of a great deal more 
than could possibly be condensed into a few para- 
graphs of ordinary essay writing. 

Our catechist is a typical new student who has no 
very clear idea of the Science of Healing, but wishes 
to faithfully study the matter, though suffering some- 
what from confusion of thought engendered by hear- 
ing and reading indistinct and incoherent references 
to the modus operandi of mental therapeutic prac- 
tice. 

Querist: What is your first object in the study of 
correspondences as applied to practical healing; how 
do you discover the disease from which the patient is 
suffering, then having discovered it, how do you 
treat it? 

Teacher: Pardon me, my friend, for telling you 
plainly at the outset that you are laboring under a 
total misapprehension of the theme. Doubless you 
will be surprised to hear me say that I never look for 
a disease and never treat a disease ; on the contrary, I 
do my best, quickest, and most enduring work when I 
am in total ignorance of the malady which is being 

21 



Health from Knowledge 

destroyed through the action of regenerative thought 
within, as well as upon, the patient. 

Querist: What then do you treat if you do not 
treat maladies, and how can you remove effects unless 
you know the causes whence they spring? 

Teacher: I treat men, women, and children. My 
aim is to help them to self-knowledge. Those who 
come to me laden with disorder are ignorant of the 
true way of life; they need instruction and I seek to 
give it them. But mark well these words, I seek to 
discover the special need of whoever seeks my assist- 
ance, and to that need I minister to the best of my 
ability. 

Querist: But have I not read in various books on 
Mental, Spiritual or Divine healing that you must 
name a disease in the act of denying it away? Sup- 
pose now, a person is suffering from Asthma, and you 
are totally ignorant of his complaint, how can you 
treat him? 

Teacher: I do not presume to deny what you may 
have read in certain books. All I undertake to do is 
to elucidate, as far as I can, the system which I up- 
hold and practice, and which I find to be the best in 
its results. Were you suffering from any such dis- 
order as the ailment you have mentioned, I should 
treat you for perfectly free, easy, copious breathing. 
While I do not wish to know rrom what complaint 

22 



The Law of Correspondences 

you are suffering, I sit silently with my visitor and 
quietly affirm that I shall discover his special necessity 
and intelligently minister to it. Had you told me 
that you were afflicted with Asthma and requested me 
to treat you for it, I should quietly have reasoned 
with you, and asked you to so far change your lan- 
guage as to put the request for treatment into a logi- 
cal, concise and affirmative sentence. Had you per- 
mitted yourself to think the subject out, you would 
readily have complied with my request and told me 
that you wished to breathe freely and easily. 

I should then have treated you with the intention 
and expectation of your doing so, and had you re- 
sponded to the treatment, you would very quickly 
have begun to breathe more easily. 

Querist: What do you think of denying the exist- 
ence of the body and of the material world in order 
to detach one's thoughts from sublunar vanities, that 
they may be fixed on the realities of Spirit? 

Teacher: As I teach the exact, orderly and neces- 
sary correspondence between the outer and the inner, 
I could not be guilty of any such folly, which amounts 
to intellectual stultification, and which, instead of 
forming the basis of rational healing, involves the 
most bewildering mysticism and the wildest contra- 
diction in terms. To deny disease is plausible be- 
cause we wish to be rid of it, and we all seek to fight 
it until we learn a better way of conquering it. 

23 



Health from Knowledge 

But to first deny the existence of the body and then 
point to an improvement in that body's condition as a 
result of a denial of its existence is self -evidently ab- 
surd. 

,It is wise and well to affirm the real existence of 
the spiritual body and then declare that the physical 
shape corresponds perfectly to this ideal form. My 
eyes are perfect; my ears are perfect; and many sen- 
tences of similar import, are legitimate affirmations, 
because the ideal organ must be pronounced perfect 
in order that its exterior correspondence may become 
perfect. Affirmative statements can be made from 
the standpoint of interior realization, will, and expec- 
tation. 

The mental picture of a perfect organ, and then 
the outwardly spoken word declaring such to be a 
true picture, is an effective mode of healing, and in- 
cludes useful auto-suggestion when it is a self -dec- 
laration. 

Querist: I begin to comprehend, I think, that 
your system of healing is something like this: you 
make a mental picture of health and suggest it to 
your patient either silently or aloud; or first silently 
and then aloud, or vice versa; you then expect that 
in consequence of a decided change in the object of 
mental contemplation a corresponding change will 
be naturally induced in the flesh? 

24 



The Law of Correspondences 

Teacher: Precisely so; and we go so far as to ap- 
ply this mode of practice to vanquishing all obnox- 
ious habits, even to the regeneration of society at 
large, on the basis of the ideal being the essential real, 
the so-called real being merely a correspondence to 
the ideal. We look upon the relation between outer 
and inner, or subject and object, as between form and 
shape, number and figure, image and likeness. The 
form, number, and image are spiritual or ideal; the 
shape, the figure, and the likeness are external or 
physical. Both are good, but one must precede the 
other in the logical sequence of the evolution of what 
is involved. 

Suggestive methods of healing, no matter how ma- 
terialistic or agnostic may be the theories of some doc- 
tors who practice them, are efficacious in the degree 
that they consist of reasonable appeals to the individ- 
uals treated; and they prove ineffectual to the extent 
that they are based on some other conception of hu- 
manity than that human nature is good at root and 
core. 

The essential cross is the blending of love and wis- 
dom, which are truly one in real being as light and 
heat are one in fire. Fire is revealed in light and in 
heat, so is divinity revealed in affection and in intel- 
lect. 

To be a genuine healer one must be lovingly wise 
and wisely loving, justly merciful and mercifully 

25 



Health from Knowledge 

just. Equity, equipoise, and equilibrium are three 
kindred words, finally expressive of health, harmony, 
and order. Seek harmony and persist in seeing it as 
already consummated within; by so doing you will 
soon learn the law whereby its outpicturing is ren- 
dered certain. Healing and harmonizing are one, 
therefore to the extent that you succeed in producing 
states of harmony you are a successful healer, but 
never any further. 



26 



LESSON II. 

SPECIFIC CORRESPONDENCES. — PRACTICAL SUGGES- 
TIONS FOR HEALING. 

It is never easy to enter deeply into the subject of 
this essay, except we undertake to trace our theme 
far back beyond those obvious appearances which — - 
because they are intensely real to mortal sense— are 
looked upon as genuine realities by multitudes who 
have not yet grown to peer beyond effects into the 
deeper realm of causes. The reason for the difficulty 
mentioned is that so many people are afflicted with 
ailments for which their personal errors seem to offer 
no sort of explanation, and we naturally rebel against 
any interpretation which enthrones injustice, while 
it dethrones every noble attribute of Deity in our phil- 
osophy. 

If people suffer, but do not bring sufferings upon 
themselves by positive sins or palpable faults, to what 
shall we turn for a solution of this very perplexing 
problem, if not to the teaching conveyed in the gospel 
words concerning the man who, though born blind, re- 
ceived sight as a result of the healer's word and touch. 
We are all born blind, and in our blindness we make 
mistakes and suffer for every one of them at some 
time and in some manner. This suffering, though it 

27 



Health from Knowledge 

is penalty is not punishment, for it proceeds not from 
divine anger or human displeasure as such, but arises 
of necessity in the course of our scholastic career as an 
educational chastisement or discipline; words which 
mean nothing harsher than cleansing and teaching 
when traced to their origin. 

We are, it must be remembered, traveling toward 
the goal of perfect self-conscious individuality, and on 
the road thereto we have much to experiment with, 
and many of our experiments are conducted igno- 
rantly. We must have the experience of the penalty 
which grows out of all imperfect or mistaken acts, or 
we should not attain self-conscious growth (in the at- 
tainment of which, racial or general, as well as indi- 
vidual, private and particular conditions must be 
taken fully into account) before we shall have reached 
a position where we are sufficiently lifted up on the 
heights of understanding, to be able to look down and 
over the field occupied by mortal sense so as to ac- 
count for all that occurs in that lower and less en- 
lightened region. 

It is never easy to isolate or separate one person's 
life wholly from that of others, because we are in fam- 
ily clusters and communal societies, sowing and reap- 
ing, jointly and collectively as well as privately and 
particularly. When people are afflicted with disor- 
ders which appear foreign to their own state, they are 

28 



Specific Correspondences 

frequently reflecting in the precisest possible manner, 
the errors of those about them; people in whom they 
are greatly interested, whom they intensely love or 
fear and upon whom they in many ways depend; 
while in the case of young children and extremely sen- 
sitive people of both sexes and all ages, the source of a 
malady is clearly traceable to the influence, con- 
sciously or unconsciously exerted by a parent, teacher, 
or intimate friend. With many persons who are not 
palpably sensitive in so pronounced a degree, we are 
compelled to look further and deeper into occult influ- 
ences, or we fail entirely to account for what we ac- 
tually behold. 

Among those interested in Astrology or Solar Bi- 
ology, it is well to point to the obvious fact that the 
twelve manners of people sometimes classified accord- 
ing to the Zodiac and sometimes according to the 
Tribes of Israel, are respectively liable (until they 
have overcome their specific liabilities) to succumb to 
the disorders which particularly belong to the domains 
they occupy in the Grand Man. Where we can be 
strongest, there we are apt to manifest our most pro- 
nounced weakness, because the seat of greatest sus- 
ceptibility is the zone of temptation with every indi- 
vidual. 

Aries, which is the head of the Grand Man and the 
first of the fiery signs, gives to its natives tendencies, 

29 



Health from Knowledge 

which if rightly used evince great strength in the re- 
gion of the head. Such people are pre-eminently 
adapted to do what we agree to call "head work," but 
we all discover that these are the very people who 
often suffer most with headache, and when intensely 
excited are liable to brain fever. It is useless to ignore 
natural differences or seek to treat everyone alike iri 
a blind sort of manner. These heady, headstrong peo* 
pie are often found in a singularly headweak condi* 
tion, out of which they can only be brought as their 
qualifications and temperament are recognized, and 
dealt with by an orderly method. 

Brain workers, usually highly intellectual people, 
find everything flying to their heads, so that bad news 
or any disturbance in their surroundings quickly 
makes itself felt in head distemper of some sort. We 
find many of this type suffering from dry, hot heads, 
their eyes wild looking and abnormally protruberant, 
with every indication of incipient insanity, though the 
actual annoyance which they have suffered and which 
serves to bring about so frantic a condition may seem 
to persons of widely different temperament utterly 
inadequate to produce such direful results. 

Such people are generally talkative in the extreme, 
and though it would be the height of unwisdom to in- 
crease fever by still further exciting them by argu- 
ment, they need to be quietly and patiently reasoned 

30 



Specific Correspondences 

with. They are impatient and acting unreasonably, 
for that reason we must, if we are to serve as true heal- 
ers, or even temporary relievers of their distress, go to 
them and reason with them in an imperturbable spirit 
of calm. We make a mistake if we abruptly contra- 
dict them or appear to make light of their afflictions 
which, though often very light in our eyes, are very 
great in theirs. We must be prepared in such cases 
to listen as well as talk, and even should there be a 
tendency to incoherency or raving, it will not do to try 
and prevent it by a command; it must be reasoned 
away in the calm presence, and through the firm quiet 
agency of one whose own state is unruffled, and whose 
normal pulse and unfevered temples give evidence 
that peace reigns within on a stable throne. 

These head troubles, as they are often called, lead at 
first to seeming and then to actual insanity — a state 
which can be brought about by unintentional mental 
malpractice. All head difficulties are greatly relieved 
by marked decision in statement coupled with sincere 
demonstration of interest in a patient's welfare. When- 
ever there is a belief that any occupation which em- 
ploys the mental facualties unduly taxes them, it is 
wise to suggest, both orally and silently, that mental 
employment is the natural work of such an individual, 
and that in the doing of it, not in its avoidance or re- 
linquishment, may health be expected. This is where 

31 



Health from Knowledge 

the extreme practicality of mental treatment is made 
manifest; it does literally "take the bull by the horns" 
and makes the bull a servant; it does "agree with the 
adversary quickly," and it does follow out the precept 
"love your enemies/' But all this it accomplishes in a 
manner far removed from the way suggested by 
conventional misapplications of such divine precepts. 

The so-called "adversary" or "enemy" is not such 
in reality, but only appears to be such until its real na- 
ture is understood ; then, when it is seen to be not ad- 
verse or inimical but friendly, having agreed with it, 
it can no longer disagree with the individual to whom 
it really stands in a truly friendly, though hitherto 
misconceived and consequently apparently unfriendly 
attitude. 

Nothing is unfriendly after one has made friends 
with it. "Blessed are the peacemakers" is a saying far 
too seldom expounded in the light of its luminous sig- 
nificance. Peace cannot be kept or maintained un- 
broken save in places where it already exists, but where 
it is now absent it can become present, it can be in- 
duced, created, and so firmly established on the basis of 
a right understanding of mutual relationships that the 
elements which formerly yielded chaos, can be hence- 
forward welded into cosmos. 

We may readily understand the position taken by 
the practitioner of Spiritual or Divine Science who, 

32 



Specific Correspondences 

going into the midst of strife, breathes forth the spirit 
of peace. Well-balanced intellectual people are 
needed to reach ill-balanced intellectual people, be- 
cause harmony needs to reign in the teacher in the 
special domain where discord prevails in the scholar. 
To evade a fact through ignorance of its nature and 
existence, is not to heal ; healing being a result of de- 
liberate, enlightened grappling with a trying situation 
to the end that discord is vanquished because harmony 
is induced — we cannot always say restored — because 
there are many places wherein disorders have prevailed 
from before the birth of the sufferers we are called 
upon to relieve. 

Hereditary discords can and must be mastered in the 
same way that such discords as have been acquired 
after birth are overcome. There is no truer statement 
than "every limitation can be cast aside," but errors are 
vanquished only by applying to their destruction the 
truths to which they are exactly opposed. Here comes 
in the law of correspondences in the killing out of 
error. If falsehoods have been told only the tongue 
can be the fitting instrument of restitution, therefore 
true words must be spoken to destroy the influence of 
false ; kind words must be spoken to nullify the effect 
of cruel. The same members must be employed which 
have been misemployed ; for on the plane where wrong 
has prevailed, there must the contrary right much more 

83 



Health from Knowledge 

prevail. This doctrine of correspondences is not un- 
fathomable, but it is profound; though deep it is not 
obscure ; for it teaches us to look for the remedy in the 
use of what has been perverted and thus diverted from 
use to misuse. 

Conversion or turning around, is re-directing a 
stream into its proper channel ; introducing a river to 
its native bed from which it has been turned away by 
some crooked device. We cannot rationally explain 
wrongs, for they are unreasonable ; but the right, which 
is to destroy wrong is clearly explicable, and we are 
not concerned so much with the cause of the malady as 
with the method of release therefrom. 

Here is one of the most vital points in all truly prac- 
tical metaphysical teaching ! Intelligent practitioners 
do not think it necessary to flounder about in the mud 
or wallow in the mire of sensual causation to apply the 
only true and lasting antidote to sensuality, which is to 
strengthen innate love of purity. It seems scarcely 
credible that any one should be qualified to do this 
who has not felt within himself the thrill of an awaken- 
ing consciousness that a virtuous life is not only pos- 
sible and right, but much more than this — the only 
really satisfactory and truly enjoyable life. 

When we have to deal with high-strung and over- 
strung natures, we need to be cautious, lest we present 
truth in a way calculated to antagonize rather than at- 

34 



Specific Correspondences 

tract. But this caution differs widely from nervous 
carefulness. When this is made clear, many difficul- 
ties of long standing vanish. Caution is the accom- 
paniment not only of discretion, but of kindly solici- 
tude in place of rash thoughtlessness, A cautious, dis- 
criminating temper is never one that coldly calculates 
after it is warmed with love, though without affection 
it is indeed pure and cold like ice or marble. We need 
fire as well as ice, and though the cool hand is very wel- 
come at times, of tener the warm, glowing heart of love 
must be behind it, or its touch will chill but cannot heal. 

Very many elements go to make up a perfect char- 
acter, and we see these varied elements so wondrously 
combined in the portrait of the manifested Christ, that 
we can scarcely fail to see why and how it is that Jesus 
healed all manners of sickness and disorder, and as- 
sured his disciples that they should do the same pro- 
portionately as they ate and drank of that interior na- 
ture which should eventually shine forth in them as it 
already shone forth in him. 

If we look upon the head as the seat of authority 
and say that those individuals who are in the prov- 
ince of the head are the chief thinkers and intellec- 
tual leaders of the world, and that these are more 
likely than any others to suffer from head troubles, 
we shall have struck a keynote which will enable us, 
as we follow its suggestions, to reach a conclusion 

35 



Health from Knowledge 

applicable to all other parts of the human anatomy; 
for no sooner does anyone gain real insight into the 
nature and working of the law of correspondence at 
one point, than he finds himself able, by a little 
study, to apply it at any other point in the entire or- 
ganism; the rule of application being the same fun- 
damentally in all instances. 

Headaches proceed from intellectual difficulties, 
mental embarrassments; to conquer these, we see at 
once that denials alone are useless. Affirmations only 
are conclusive. Take as a sample illustration, the fol- 
lowing common case likely to crop up anywhere at 
any time, and witness the application of the theory 
of correspondences we are seeking to elucidate. 

A patient comes to a healer with the complaint 
that everything is going wrong in his affairs and he 
is feeling so bewildered, he knows not which way to 
turn. Everything is going right with you concerning 
all your affairs, is a good, concise, comprehensive 
statement to make by way of rightful suggestion. 
Such a sentence is a pure affirmation, the suggestive 
value of which is exceedingly great, because it di- 
verts thought immediately into an entirely new and 
highly profitable channel; it cannot therefore encour- 
age confusion; if it works at all it must aid in the 
evolution of harmony. 

If the patient is of a very questioning turn and 
wishes to clearly apprehend the truth of what you de- 

36 



Specific Correspondences 

clare in an intellectual manner, you should be pre- 
pared to say to him, "I wish you from this moment 
forward to realize that a decided alteration has taken 
place in the current of your affairs. From the in-' 
stant you came to me and requested me to give you 
a treatment, you put yourself in a receptive attitude 
toward a new line of mental influence, and this new 
thought must ultimate itself progressively in a cor- 
responding change in both departments of your af- 
fairs — the inner and the outer. Your trouble has 
been twofold; you have suffered in your own person 
and also in your business or domestic environment; 
do not blindly expect the change to begin in things 
outside your personality; changes begin within and 
proceed in orderly sequence to without. You are 
within yourself feeling brighter, better, cheerier, and 
in consequence of your having absorbed and assimi- 
lated the healing thought offered you, which you 
voluntarily came to seek, you are henceforward in a 
healthier attitude toward all about you than before." 
We have no intention of formulating a series of 
stereotyped sentences and urging that they should 
be used verbatim et literatim on every available occa- 
sion, but only seeking to suggest the kind of state- 
ment which is generally wise to make when explana- 
tions are sought by persons who do not immediately 
understand what you are saying to them. Remem- 

37 



Health from Knowledge 

ber when you are dealing with that section of hu- 
manity which seems to occupy the province of the 
head, you must be particularly ready with definitions 
and explanations, for they demand them and will not 
be satisfied without them. 

The head has its rights as well as the heart, and 
where doubts and difficulties are pressing and intel- 
lectual satisfaction is required no treatment suffices 
to heal which fails to supply the needed mental pab- 
ulum. We know there is a side to the doctrine of the 
utility of denials which deserves respectful considera- 
tion, but as we proceed to explain this as we under- 
stand it, we shall clearly see that the chief difference 
between the two modes of statement is technical rather 
than intentional, though the distinction is neverthe- 
less important. 

Miss Charlotte Hawes, a well known American 
teacher of music, and composer of many stirring mel- 
odies, has given us a beautiful song opening with 
these words : 

"Set the world to music, 

Haunt it with a song; 
Hide this wisdom in it, 

Nothing can go wrong." 

If everything goes right, nothing goes wrong, 
but though the latter declaration is legitimate and 
helpful, is not the former the stronger of the two? 

38 



Specific Correspondences 

We are simply calling attention to major and mi- 
nor benefits likely to accrue from differing phraseol- 
ogy. Let the tired, worried woman, who has been in- 
cessantly fretting and fuming over trials and dis- 
cords, take up her parable in the words of the song 
and sing during her work "Nothing can go 
wrong," and she has taken a great step forward and 
will soon prove the relative wisdom of her course by 
seeing difficulties vanish and weariness depart, but 
when she goes much further in the correct use of 
language and exultingly exclaims, Everything 
gotfs right" she will be a far greater power in her 
household, for her diction will be confined to the vo- 
cabulary of heaven. 

Take these two mottoes, "Nothing can go wrong" 
and "Everything goes right" and place them on our 
walls. We must be careful in the one case, lest we 
let some one sit where he will see the word wrong 
staring him in the face, but with the other we need 
exercise no caution, for there is not a word in the 
sentence which can possibly exert a baneful influence 
as it appeals to consciousness through eye or ear. Sit 
where you will in the class-room, let any pillar hide a 
portion of the text from your vision, and the purely 
affirmative motto can exercise no pernicious influ- 
ence; while the other, good though it is as a whole, 
may inadvertently suggest nothing but wrong, 



Health from Knowledge 

while the former in the same position could suggest 
nothing but right to those who were so seated that 
they beheld only the terminal word. 

Discretion is often the better part of valor, and 
nowhere do we need to be more discreet than in the 
presence of sensitve, nervously active, ill-balanced 
persons, who are among the first to apply for mental 
treatment; because in their cases more frequently 
than in any others, regular physicians and everybody 
else are apt to declare that mental treatment may 
prove effective. 

The orderly work of mental healing carried on in 
accordance with an understanding and application 
of the law of correspondences is a beautiful, healthful 
undertaking — a work in which the most delicately 
organized maiden can well engage, but when the 
questionable method of denying disease, after having 
ferreted it out and called it by name, is introduced, 
we will not answer for the effect produced by such a 
course upon highly sensitive and intensely imagina- 
tive temperaments. St. Paul said, all things may be 
lawful, but all things are not expedient" There are 
questionable and unquestionable modes of mental 
practice; without condemning the former we confine 
ourselves to positive advocacy of the latter only. Af- 
firmations are useful at all times, in all places, and on 
behalf of all people. As we grow more and more 

40 



Specific Correspondences 

into an understanding of this, we shall see our way to 
a plain, logical, and effectual settlement of many a 
mooted question which comes up again and again as 
a vexed problem in the path of the mental prac- 
titioner. 

There is a correct answer to every conceivable 
question, and that answer agrees always with the 
Golden Rule, which we have no right to twist and 
travesty until it appears to mean one thing for us and 
something altogether different for our nieghbors. 
We never really offend people by appealing to their 
highest and best, but we often give needless offense 
to others by dwelling in our own thoughts upon their 
supposed delinquencies. One of the most pitiful 
blunders ever made is setting up hideous scarecrows, 
veritable "men of straw," between ourselves and those 
about us, and then practicing and advocating an elab- 
orately impertinent system of mental treatment, jus- 
tified only on the pretext that our effigies are real 
flesh and blood humanity. We know of so many cases 
where this error fatally prevails, that we have no hesi- 
tancy in pointing out its thoroughly erroneous char- 
acter for the sake of suggesting the much needed 
remedy. We make it our invariable course never to 
refer to what we see to be a mistake except in connec- 
tion with a practical plan of remedy. If people 
would only consider that their views of people and 

41 



Health from Knowledge 

things are not necessarily correct, a great forward 
step would soon be taken out of the desert of discord 
into the good land of harmony, which we can all pos- 
sess if we will but march steadily forward, leaving 
Egyptian beliefs behind us while on the road to 
Canaan. 

When we come to perceive that the real entity is 
everywhere the same and that it can always be ap- 
pealed to, we learn to look with disfavor upon mental 
treatment "for disease" or "for discord," because we 
know that the very mention of the name of anything 
conjures up its reflection before the mental vision, 
and we cannot afford to be looking constantly upon 
ugly pictures if we would save ourselves and help to 
deliver others from the shadows which now entomb 
them. 

There is so much in accepted Christian phraseology 
that can be pressed into the service of Divine Science, 
that it is quite unnecessary to coin a novel terminol- 
ogy when working among people who are used to the 
sound of certain phrases, which are as music in their 
ears; especially when these very phrases are full of 
sound, healthful suggestiveness. Uncompromising 
loyalty to truth does not demand iconoclastic proced- 
ure, except where there is a "golden calf" or other 
molten image to be broken up; and while we hope to 
be ever ready to demolish idols, it is our sincere desire 

42 



Specific Correspondences 

to preserve and glorify whatever is of help and service 
to humanity. Take for illustration the words of a 
beautiful hymn : 

"O, eyes that are weary and hearts that are sore, 
Look off unto Jesus and sorrow no more." 
The conception is beautifully ideal. Eyes are 
wearied and sight is wasted with gazing upon what is 
hideous and repellant. Deliverance from the mani- 
fold afflictions brought upon us by gazing upon what 
is unlovely, is to be accomplished only as we obey the 
wise injunction: "Whatsoever things are excellent 
and of good repute, think on these things." 

Any attempt to divert attention from the nauseous 
and fear-inspiring must be abortive, unless there be 
placed before the gaze of the sufferer a new and better 
subject for contemplation. A very interesting anec- 
dote runs as follows: A little boy had disturbed his 
mother, who slept in a room next to his chamber, by 
counting aloud the pattern of the wall paper inces- 
santly morning after morning. The tedious repeti- 
tion could do the child no good, and it was tiresome 
to the ears of the mother, who, being a wise woman, 
found no fault, but supplied a remedy in the form of a 
pleasing picture which she hung on the wall exactly 
opposite her son's bed. The little fellow was so de a 
lighted with this mural decoration that he quite re- 
linquished his former habit and soon developed a real 

43 



Health from Knowledge 

taste for fine engravings and paintings of worth. 
The action of that sensible woman contains a prac- 
tical lesson for all who would wisely practice sugges- 
tive therapeutics or any form of mental healing. 

Divert attention from the undesirable by present- 
ing the desirable, and just as this is readily done out- 
wardly when we have the handling of material things, 
it must be done equally, and in precisely the same 
manner, on the psychic or subjective plane when we 
are handling spiritual things. The law of corre- 
spondences works inversely. As it is above and with- 
in, so it is below and without. There are no two or- 
ders in the universe; there can be but one order. A 
word to the wise is sufficient, but the unwise may re- 
quire many utterances before they are influenced 
to forsake error for truth, and be it remembered 
that no one can reasonably be expected to share your 
mental attitude until he understands it and sees it to 
be reasonable. Be not impatient and be not officious. 
Seek to propogate truth, but though a propogandist, 
be not a proselyter, for proselytes blow hot and cold, 
and are only creatures of temporary sensationalism. 

It is only by steady, persistent holding of right 
thought that error can be displaced. If you are not at 
once very successful in your work (so far as appear- 
ances go) remember faith develops as a grain of mus- 
tard seed unfolds. Do not say or allow yourself to 

M 



Specific Correspondences 

believe that you can do nothing because as yet you 
can do but little. Small faith is living faith and holds 
within itself the seed of gigantic faith — faith so great 
and so potential that it can remove obstacles compar- 
able to great mountains. 

Forget not the injuction "Heal thyself" which 
means immeasurably more in its interior spirit than 
in its apparent letter. To heal yourself so as to pre- 
pare yourself to be God's instrument for healing oth- 
ers, is not at once to lay finally aside the last vestiges 
of some lingering physical appearance ; it is to purge 
the thought-realm of those interior disorders which 
are the real diseases, outward effects of which are aU 
that is perceptible on the external plane of observa- 
tion. 

There must be the right thought concerning others 
in your own consciousness, before you are ready to 
step forward and proclaim yourself a healer. Fail- 
ures and disappointments will continue just as long 
as you inwardly maintain the belief that you are 
right in holding on to a carnal estimate of your neigh- 
bor. Our Swedenborgian friends, who make more of 
the doctrine of correspondences than do any other 
company of people, are quite right when they say, 
do not fight evils, but let the Lord overcome them in 
you. 

We must open ourselves to divine influx; we must 
welcome goodness into our affections and truth into 

45 



Health from Knowledge 

our understanding. As we keep our spiritual gaze 
riveted upon the heights, we shall obtain light and our 
countenances will shine so that those who are in the 
depths will see the light, which is God's universal ra- 
diance reflected through us to those of our brethren 
who stand in such relation to us that it is orderly 
that we should be unto them torchbearers and light 
dispensers. 

Finally, everyone must accomplish his own regen- 
eration through inward acceptance and assimilation 
of truth, each for himself. We are not wells or foun- 
tains to our neighbors, but we are guides to the foun- 
tains, to the wells and rivers of salvation. Let us be 
faithful guides and our good work will prove itself 
in harvests of benediction, to be shared equally by us 
and our companions. The clear air of neighborly af- 
fection is beneficial to all who breathe it, while the 
fetid atmosphere of exclusive interest in self is stifling 
to all who inhale it. It follows, therefore, that the very 
states of mind which enable us to bless our brethren 
are largely conducive to our individual well-being on 
every plane of our existence. 



46 



LESSON III. 

ASTROLOGY AND MENTAL HEALING. TWELVE MAN- 
NERS OF PEOPLE. THEIR PECULIARITIES 

AND LIABILITIES. 

Astrology has its roots in the Science of Human 
Expression, and, when rightly understood, helps very 
many people to a clearer understanding of themselves 
and others ; but as the topic of Astrology is beset with 
many dangers, it is well to clear away rubbish by pos- 
itively affirming certain fundamental propositions in 
the clearest possible manner. 

First, let it be admitted that Equality is the cardi- 
nal watchword of Divine Science. We are equal in 
that we are all offspring of Deity. If one is a child of 
God, so are all the rest; therefore, all souls are alike 
unto the Eternal, who is no respector of persons. 

Second, we must note that Variety is a prime char- 
acteristic of expression, and it is through differences 
(not disagreements or discords) that essential equal- 
ity is to be revealed. 

Third, Inequality is surely noticeable in the exter- 
nal world, but this pertains neither to the essential 
nature of human kind nor to the specific nature of a 
particular soul, but only to the degree of development 

47 



Health from Knowledge 

reached at present by some and not by others. The 
family example is always in place. We are sons and 
daughters of the same parents, but some are elder and 
some are younger children. 

In social position we are equals by birth, but in a 
measure of attainment we are unequal. Elder broth- 
ers and sisters can teach the younger, so do we come to 
learn that in some mysterious way we are related in 
the great Human family as we are related in the 
smaller groups which constitute our private house- 
holds. Brotherliness and sisterliness must be ever the 
keynote to enduring harmony, but fraternity does not 
displace schools and teachers, for it does not blindly 
assert that all are at present equal in any other than 
the primal sense — that all are members of one great 
family and God is the parent of us all. 

When we get behind all phenomena and consider 
ourselves as Divine Offspring only, we are confronted 
with so glorious a vision of our inward perfectness 
that we can but exclaim with Emerson, "I, the imper- 
fect, adore my own perfect." But in that immortal 
sentence have we not a distinctive acknowledgement 
of the two — the perfect, which is eternal, and the im- 
perfect which is temporal; it is the latter, not the for- 
mer, which needs teaching, guiding, healing. 

We all of us appear first as Adam, then as Enos, 
later on as Noah, and after some great transition in 

48 



Astrology and Mental Healing 

our experience (likened to a flood) as Abraham, 
Isaac, Jacob and Joseph successively — till at length 
we reach the Messianic height and know ourselves as 
we truly are. This involves a long process in evolu- 
tion, and as we journey along this continuous way we 
can all help each other. We must be equally willing 
to help and be helped if we would progress truly. 

The twelve sons of Jacob, titled Israel, as they are 
enumerated in the 49th chapter of Genesis are clearly 
of the earth earthy. They are there described as tribes 
of Israel, but their father is not God, but Jacob, and 
they partake of mortal qualities. They have great 
destinies to fulfill — twelve distinct kinds of destiny 
within one all-including divinely appointed destiny. 
Strength and weakness, innate qualities of power and 
liabilities to weakness are all enumerated by the pa- 
triarch as he addresses his twelve assembled sons be- 
fore bidding them a final farewell as to the state in 
which they then beheld him. Let us see how he ad- 
dresses them, what message he has for each, and then 
turn later to the twelve tribes as we find them enumer- 
ated in the 7th chapter of Revelations, where we shall 
discover them in regenerated order. In Genesis we 
are introduced to Jacob's offering in their unregener- 
ate, or first Adam condition ; in the Apocalypse we are 
shown these same twelve types of humanity regener- 
ated into the likeness of the second Adam, who is the 

49 



Health from Knowledge 

octave note, the eighth tone, the first in the new as- 
cending scale of ever upward and onward progress. 

In our first estate before we are born anew, we are 
liable to all sorts of disorders which come to us in dif-t 
ferent ways according to our diverse temperaments; 
but after we have conquered the flesh, by subduing its 
appetites, having gained full mastery over the pas- 
sions which formerly rode rampant in us, we have 
come first into the sight and then into the very heart 
of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Regeneration must follow generation as an orderly 
process ; we must be born a second time into a new and 
higher consciousness than came with our earlier birth. 
A first birth need not be sinful ; it may indeed without 
being miraculous, be immaculate, but even if it be so, 
it is to be followed by a higher, nobler, fuller realiza- 
tion of life; therefore, the Christ is ever saying, "I am 
come that they might have life, and have it more 
abundantly." Taking this advent of the Christ into 
human consciousness in any sense we will, it is always 
the inrushing of a wider view, a sense of more glorious 
possibilities, a realization of a measure of freedom and 
degree of power hitherto undreamed of. It is a new 
revelation made possible by all that went before it, a 
crown placed upon a head which was without a dia- 
dem until it had evolved for itself an aureole. 

Jacob and his twelve sons are in our midst to-day. 

£0 



Astrology and Mental Healing 

Such characters are both mythical and actual ; they are 
far more than historical, for they are living among us ; 
they are us and we are they. Reuben, the first born, 
is a remarkable type, as he is shown forth in all the ex- 
cellency of physicial strength and dignity ; but he is as 
yet only conscious of the exterior aspect of his power, 
therefore, though possessed of might, he is unstable in 
the exercise of it. Jacob is a prophet, so he points out 
to his sons what shall come to them in their "last days." 
This means that through the exercise of the faculty of 
seership one is able to confidently predict what will be 
the certain outcome of any course of thought and cor- 
responding action steadily pursued. . We make mys- 
teries of prophecy; we cast discredit on the seer and 
vaunt ourselves that we are scientific because we are 
agnostic (a scholarly synonym for ignorant), but 
when we have drank a little more deeply from the well 
of knowledge, we no longer sneer at the well of Jacob, 
for we become Jacobs, then others may sneer at us. for 
we are in our turn among the prophets. 

Verily there is a continual evolution of that which is 
involved in every one of us; let us, therefore, be ever 
on our guard against suppositious finalities, for there 
are no finalities but axioms of truth, and these can be 
increased in number, though never altered in reality. 
Jacob sees the future of Reuben as a gardener sees the 
future of the seeds he has sown and the slips he has 

51 



Health from Knowledge 

planted. All growth is one growth ; there is but one 
order of growth, therefore, as plants grow so men 
grow. It is from the standpoint of this knowledge 
that we can interpret the law of prognosis in addition 
to diagnosis ; for he who prognosticates or f ortells the 
future must be acquainted with the present and the 
past, with the law of sequence that has brought the 
present from a past, and will surely bring a future 
from a present. 

Jacob is a clairvoyant, psychometric, intuitive; he 
understands the underlying principles of astrology 
and chirology as well as of phrenology and physiog- 
nomy. Twelve, young men stand before him 
and he can read their heads, faces, hands, 
and more — he can penetrate below their sur- 
faces and detect what is going on within them. 
Jacob is on a death-bed, he is dying to an old 
state and rising to a new condition. He is not declin- 
ing or perishing, he is enlarging, expanding, and as he 
is taking his departure to the next rung of the ladder 
of conscious existence he is melting into his successor ; 
he will be a Joseph when in the future we re-encounter 
him. Shall we recognize him, or will he be unknown 
to us then unless he re-enter in appearance his former 
lower state? That depends upon how far our spirit- 
ual eyes are open, or how nearly we are blind. 

On a deathbed people are wont to be honest, and 

52 



Astrology and Mental Healing 

their words are apt to be treasured through succeeding 
generations. Dying people are going away and they 
have nothing to fear, to gain, or to lose by outspoken- 
ness ; because of this they are apt to be unusually lucid 
in their delineations of the characters of those about 
them. Honesty impels foresight and insight, and the 
two are inseparable ; without the one, the other cannot 
be. Strong points and weak points are seen together, 
and both must be mentioned, that the weak be 
strengthened and the strong rendered stronger still. 

We can hardly read the whole of the frank utter- 
ance of Reuben's father to his firstborn without being 
appalled at the glaring contrast it presents ; but Reu- 
ben is with us to-day, and we must face the modern sit- 
uation, however little we know of ancient history. Reu- 
ben may come to you any moment for advice and treat- 
ment ; can you give a clairvoyant examination, or what 
is better, an intuitive diagnosis of his case ? This proud, 
dignified man occupies a high position in society; he 
is much looked up to and respected, and he deserves 
much praise for some of his conduct, for it is excellent ; 
but there has lain hidden somewhere a grievous wrong 
— an injustice — a breach of honor, some disloyalty to 
a trust and that disloyalty has been the secret worm 
which has gnawed Reuben's vitals. How surprised 
his companions would be if they only suspected what 
they need never know, for the offense may be of a pri- 

53 



Health from Knowledge 

vate nature and should not be mentioned beyond the 
confines of his home. 

It is well to tell the woman of Samaria at Jacob's 
well, that she has had five husbands and is now living 
in adultery, but it must be told in a private interview* 
and so told that she will be led to enoble her own life 
and bring others to the feet of truth because of the 
telling of it. 

Verily Jacob's couch and Jacob's well are telltale 
institutions ; you must beware how you approach them 
if you do not wish your secrets to be made known. 
Seership holds no terrors for the virtuous, only the 
vicious are afraid of extended perception. Thought- 
reading is terrible to him or to her whose thoughts are 
evil, while to the man or woman whose thoughts are 
pure the thought reader is as a savior. Whenever 
thoughts are read well nigh universally, the premium 
so long placed on deception will be removed. Let us 
pray and work that Jacob's well may become univer- 
sal, but then we shall be ready to die to it by passing 
beyond it to a nobler well which is within us. Death- 
beds are seats of judgment! When we are dying to old 
conditions and passing on to new, we judge our own 
past and we help others to greater self-knowledge. 
We must not be afraid of a revelation, for so long as 
we shut our eyes to causes, we cannot effectually bid 
effects to cease. 



54 



Astrology and Mental Healing 

Simeon and Levi are brethren, "instruments of cru- 
elty are in their habitations." Here we have mentioned 
a second and a third type of humanity, two types 
closely allied; no better and no worse than the first, 
but different altogether from it. Reuben sins in secret 
and his vices find him out openly; while two of his 
brothers sin in public and they suffer in silence in 
consequence of open transgressions. How fierce are 
the denunciations of the father upon the iniquities of 
the children, and yet he eventually pronounces his 
blessing over all. He does not say cursed be they, but, 
"cursed be their anger for it was cruel." 

Warriors are not an accursed race ; among them are 
to be found noble patriots and faithful champions of 
right, but warfare is itself cursed. Swords are to be 
melted into ploughshares and spears into pruning 
hooks ; garments are to be sold that spiritual weapons 
may be provided, but he who lifts his hand to slay 
his brother with a carnal weapon shall himself be slain. 
Weapons of warfare are still in your habitations, Oh, 
ye of the tribes of Simeon and Levi, but they need 
not be such weapons as guns and pistols! they may 
be warlike thoughts which "dig down the wall." You 
have undermined your constitution by thinking angri- 
ly of others; you have warred against your brethren 
with your tongues though not with your fists, and 
worst of all, you have wished to undermine them. 

55 



Health from Knowledge 

You have strength but you have misused it ; acknowl- 
edge your strength as a blessing ; use it henceforward 
for the good of all, but no more abuse it; such is the 
counsel given you by a faithful instructor. 

Concerning Judah it seems that no words of praise 
can be too extravagant, and yet this fourth type of 
humanity is not faultless, though it is indeed beauti- 
ful. Judah may become intemperate, and when his 
"eyes become red with wine" he may be guilty of 
manifold indiscretions. Judah people are very kind 
hearted, very handsome and very capable, but they 
may bring trouble upon themselves through excesses, 
and while they are among the natural rulers of the 
world, and they rule through inward greatness, they 
will be shown wherein they have misdirected power 
when the time comes that they too must suffer afflic- 
tion. 

Zebulun, the fifth type, is given to travel across 
deep waters ; he is of maritime disposition and loves to 
dwell by the seaside. Such people are liberal, broad, 
prosperous, enterprising and progressive; they rejoice 
in wide outlooks, but as it is by the water that they 
dwell, their danger is from the water. Zebulun may 
be a "haven for ships" ; he is kind, considerate, liberal- 
minded, but he may get beyond his depth, and when 
he is found sinking, it is beneath the very waves which 
are his proper delight and the means of his promotion. 

56 



Astrology and Mental Healing 

Issachar, a sixth type of humanity, is a burden 
bearer, and when he is at the height of power, he is 
like unto "a strong ass couching between two bur- 
dens." Here we have a suggestion of those who are 
naturally servants ; they love to do those things which 
others would consider burdensome if not degrading. 
Just as it is in the animal world where some animals 
display characteristics which other types do not mani- 
fest, so is it in our human economy — we are so adapted 
to differing pursuits, that situations which would 
prove extremely depressing to some, are the natural 
habitat of others. Becoming "a servant unto tribute" 
does not sound attractive in an age which boasts of 
liberty, and in a land which shouts the praises of free- 
dom. Possibly at this point we shall discover that 
while haughtiness and egotism are causes of some 
disorders, undue servility will be found the wellspring 
of equal, though widely differing, troubles in another 
type of persons. As the haughtiness of some people 
needs toning down, so does the humility of others need 
toning up. How wise indeed does a conselor of many 
need to be; how versatile in understanding should be 
he or she who attempts to reach helpfully great vari 
eties of temperaments! 

Reuben may call at your office in the morning, and 
during the afternoon of the same day you may be 
called upon to prescribe for Issachar. Reuben may 

57 



Health from Knowledge 

be a proud millionaire who comes in his carriage at- 
tended by a troupe of servants, or he may summon 
you to his palatial home. Issachar will very likely be 
one of the underlings in Reuben's kitchen, or the old, 
tired, oppressed man who runs the elevator in 
Reuben's magnificent place of business. When you 
treat them both you must remember they are alike 
spiritually and physically from the same primitive 
source. If the same Lord is the father of their souls,, 
the same "Jacob" is the father of their bodies. There 
is but one Lord and but one Jacob, in the broadest 
sense. When you remember this, you are not likely 
to be puffed up because Reuben sent for you, nor are 
you disposed to treat Issachar as though he were but 
a beast of burden. If you reach both so as to be a help 
to both, you must induce Reuben to be less haughty 
and Issachar to be less servile. The ailment of the 
former is probably head trouble — the difficulty with 
the latter is doubtless a wasting disease and general 
lack of vitality. 

Dan, who is numbered seven, in this classification, is 
the most troublesome to deal with of all the sons of 
Jacob, for though he shall judge his people he is, while 
unregenerate, like a serpent in the way and an adder 
in the path ; he biteth the horses' heels and causeth the 
rider to stumble and fall backward." Clearly Dan is 
the Scorpion of the Zodiac; his promptings are sen- 

58 



Astrology and Mental Healing 

m 

sual, in him sex power and its lusts will reach their 
maximum. You must be very uncompromising with 
him ; you must be unto him as Elisha was to Naaman 
—a stern prophet who orders seven bathings in Jor- 
dan, and will not tolerate continual indulgences in 
sensuality, nor hold out to him any hope of recovery si 
long as former courses are not abandoned. Dan is 
very prominent everywhere; a word to the wise is 
sufficient to suggest how he must be dealt with. The 
whole problem of sexual regeneration, — of conquest 
over the oldest of serpents who ever tempted mankind, 
is here suggested ; and this is a case which needs firm 
though temperate handling. Dan, as we have for- 
merly known him, will be no more seen or heard of 
when we read the names of the twelve tribes of Israel 
clothed in white raiment, standing before the throne 
of Divinity, unabashed in presence of the spotless 
Lamb. 

Gad, the eighth type, is one who has much to over- 
come; but though at first he appears vanquished, he 
will prove a conqueror at last. Gad is sore pressed 
oftentimes; he has fits of "the blues" and days of 
despondency. Circumstances about him appear un- 
toward in the extreme, and he believes he must suc- 
cumb to his adverse fate and submit to the cruel blows 
of universal misfortune. The troubles of Gad are 
many; he is tormented with a legion of tormentors. 

59 



Health from Knowledge 

When you question him, or look into his affairs, you 
will soon discover that the whole head seems sick and 
the entire heart faint. You cannot enumerate all the 
troubles of Gad, — he is a veritable Job in his afflic- 
tions; all you can do, if you are to help him, is to 
assure him of final victory. Read the book of Job in 
the ears of Gad, and if you can interpret some of it 
in the light of your own experience, so much the better. 
Gad has met the Accuser; Satan has buffeted him and 
a host of perplexities are overwhelming him. You 
will know him directly you see him; we need not de- 
scribe him further. When he comes to you, or you 
are summoned to his presence, let your word be one 
of assurance that light shall spring out of darkness, 
that out of apparent evil shall actual good proceed. 
Don't tantalize the poor fellow whatever you do ; don't 
twit him with what you imagine to be his shortcom- 
ings; don't tell him he endures no anguish and feels 
no pain. You must be very sympathetic with Gad, 
but your sympathy must not be the mawkish senti- 
mentality which pays atrocious "visits of condolence;" 
it must be stalwart, fearless, faithful and prophetic; 
it must point to certain victory. You must not dismiss 
Gad till you have made him feel convinced that though 
a host of difficulties have encompassed him, and he has 
seemingly been conquered by them, he shall over- 
come at the last. Your fate is in your own hands, Gad, 

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Astrology and Mental Healing 

you shall conquer your manifold oppressors and out of 
your trials you shall come forth as gold purified by 
fire. 

Asher, a ninth type, finds the world for the most 
part going smoothly with him; he has delicacies to 
spare and, perhaps, "money to burn," but in spite of 
his general well-offness, he may be sorely afflicted at 
times through a surfeit of delicacies; for dainties 
often clog and banquets have been known to destroy 
the fleshly tabernacles of emperors. Asher may also 
be surfeited with the goods of the intellect, and though 
he yields "royal dainties," he does not always know 
how best to make use of them. 

A tenth type is Napthali, an orator; an eloquent 
speaker whose words are goodly ; he is a fine preacher, 
a brilliant conversationalist, but he is like "a hind let 
loose" and sometimes he is thrown down and wounded 
by his impetuosity. Napthali may lack caution; he 
may be too exuberant and get into trouble through 
that very tongue which is his glory. Indiscretions in 
speech often cause sorrow; so the tongue must be 
guarded, controlled, but not silenced. 

Words fail to describe Joseph, he who is the eleventh 
brother, for he greatly excelleth all the rest. Jacob has 
given to Joseph a long-sleeved coat of many colors, 
and it has aroused the ire of his brethren. Joseph is 
the brightest, the finest, the most intelligent of all the 

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Health from Knowledge 

family; you cannot readily mistake him; he is so gifted 
a person, so much of a genius that his very greatness 
attracts to him the envy and malice of those who have 
not risen near to his altitude. Joseph writes great 
books, paints glorious pictures, sings heavenly songs, 
speaks with silver tongued eloquence golden words of 
wisdom. He is a seer, a prophet, and his father know* 
it and looks up to him with reverence. Poor old 
Jacob ! his gray hairs had been brought down with sor- 
row nigh unto the grave, because of the maltreat- 
ment his beloved Joseph had received at the hands of 
the other lads ! 

We all love Joseph if we know him; he is so wis© 
and so handsome, but he excites, more than any 
brother of his, the cupidity and hatred of lesser per- 
sons, who think their smallness is due to others' great- 
ness. Disregard for the tenth commandment, "Thou 
shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbor's," may 
lie at the root of a thousand maladies which we fool- 
ishly, blindly, and often blasphemously attribute to 
widely different causes. Joseph is truly great and he 
knows it! he has a vision and does not disguise the 
fact; messages come to him from heaven for his par- 
ents and his brethren, and he is indiscreet enough to 
tell of his dreams and not keep silent concerning his 
visions. Greatness is irrepressible; worth must show 
itself. You are but a poor hypocrite if you try to 

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Astrology and Mental Healing 

appear small when you know you are great ; but great- 
ness saves no one from persecution, therefore you need 
not envy Joseph, for his heart is often sore; he has a 
very loving nature, and his brothers smite him in his 
most vulnerable spot. 

It cannot be hidden from Joseph that, though not 
the first born after the flesh, he is the highest born 
after the spirit. The earthly man-made law of primo- 
geniture cannot be permitted to prevail. Estates can- 
not be everlastingly entailed ! worth, not age, merit in 
place of legal claim unbacked by excellence, must and 
will assert itself in final triumph. Joseph may appeal 
to you for help and succor ; he may be sometimes found 
in a pit or sold to Ishmaelties. Say unto Joseph that 
his blessings are most abundant even in what has 
brought him bitterest suffering, viz., separation from 
his brethren. Joseph as a child is often in tears ; Jo- 
seph as a young man is often stung with insults, but 
in the heart of genius lies the seed and certain promise 
of completest victory, and of this, Joseph in his youth 
needs to be assured; in his age he will not need to be 
told it, for he will have abundantly proved it. 

The twelfth type, Benjamin is dismissed with short 
comment ; all that is said of him is that he resembles a 
wolf ; he is not a character that stands out very promi- 
nently alone; wolves hunt in packs, not singly; so 
they are symbolical of strongly social natures which 

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Health from Knowledge 

dislike solitude and are strongly convival, though not 
always amiable in disposition. 

The twelve types stand thus in Genesis: First, 
Reuben; second, Simeon; third, Levi; fourth, Judah; 
fifth, Zebulun; sixth, Issachar; seventh, Dan; eighth, 
Gad ; ninth, Asher ; tenth, Napthali ; eleventh, Joseph ; 
twelfth, Benjamin. These are the twelve tribes of the 
scattered Israel (which is both Jew and Gentile) dis- 
persed over all the world to-day. What are the mean- 
ings of these twelve names ? We require to understand 
these various peoples, for understanding is the only 
cure for misunderstanding, mismating, and all other 
mistakes which are our diseases, the remedy for which 
is to be found only in understanding life aright. 

Reuben signifies a son who is an evidence of God's 
mercy ; an answer to a father's earnest petition. Simeon 
is one who is heard or who makes a noise in the world. 
Levi is the crowned one. Judah's name declares that 
he shall receive praise. Zebulun denotes one who pro- 
vides for himself and others a habitation. Issachar 
signifies one given to laughter. Dan is a judge. Gad 
is a fortunate person. Asher has a happy disposition. 
Napthali is given to contest. Joseph will ever make 
additions. Benjamin is a son of the right hand, an 
executive person, not an originator. 

In the 48th chapter of Ezekiel, the twelve tribes are 
classified on four sides of the city of Israel, the capital 

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Astrology and Mental Healing 

of the great projected commonwealth. Reuben, 
Judah and Levi are at the North; Joseph, Benjamin 
and Dan are at the East ; Simeon, Issachar and Zebu- 
lun are at the South; Gad, Asher and Napthali are at 
the West. Here is evidently intended far more than 
a plan of a literal city. 

The twelve tribes of Israel are clearly twelve man- 
ners of people; we are all included among them. 
Happy are we if we succeed in so finding ourselves 
and others that through the blessed ministry of divine 
healing (harmonizing), Science, Philosophy, Religion 
and Art may, like four sides of a square, exemplify on 
earth a state of perfect harmony, patterned after the 
celestial model which can be nothing short of the ar- 
rangement of angels in the upper heavens, whose per- 
fect order will yet be made manifest on earth in an 
ideal social state, completely actualized, significantly 
foretold as the new and universal City of God, the 
abode of peace — New Jerusalem, the Holy City which, 
once established, will never pass away. 



65 



LESSON IV. 

HEALING OF THE NATIONS AND REDEMPTION OF 
THE TRIBES. 

Having considered the twelve tribes of Israel as 
they have been introduced to us in Genesis XLIX and 
Ezekiel XL VIII, we now turn to the 7th chapter of 
the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation, to see how 
differently they appear in their new order from the 
manner in which they were presented in their earliest 
arrangement. Twelve tribes of Israel, be it remem- 
bered, signify all the distinct varieties of a "chosen 
people." 

We need to inquire deeply into what is meant by an 
"elect nation," a "holy seed," and other expressions 
frequently encountered in Holy Scripture and else- 
where, — sayings which, though they contain a great 
wealth of instruction for the intelligent reader, are 
very frequently so misread that they become stumbling 
blocks and rocks of offence. 

Partiality is not a divine attribute ; special priviliges 
arbitrarily conferred on some and withheld from 
others, regardless of merit or demerit, can only awaken 
sentiments the very reverse of grateful and reverential. 
We dismiss, therefore, as utterly unworthy of regard, 
all theories of election which teach a partial God and a 
celestial order opposed to our highest and ever-ex- 

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Healing of the Nations 

panding ideal of equity, which is perfect righteousness. 
God's ways are higher, not lower, than our ways. 
When we are asked to tell how we can judge as to 
what is high and what is low in moral order, our reply 
invariably is that in the course of moral awakenment, 
we all grow further and further away from favoritism, 
and nearer and nearer to a demand for rigid imparti- 
ality in all disbursements. When Whittier was chal- 
lenged to defend some of his grandest utterances con- 
cerning the universality of divine goodness, the gist 
and essence of his stalwart reply to every critic is to be 
found in the following lines : 

" Nothing can be good in Him 
Which evil is in me." 

God's will is mirrored in our human sense of right- 
eousness, and as our mirrors grow clearer and clearer, 
we come to see more and more of divine order. It 
spoke well for President McKinley that his favorite- 
hymn contained the words : 

" But we make His love too narrow 
By false limits of our own, 
And we magnify His strictness 
With a zeal He will not own." 

It is noteworthy that those words came from the 
Roman Catholic priest, Faber, at a time when the 

67 



Health from Knowledge 

harsher views of religion put forth by lesser lights, 
were in the ascendant, and the milder doctrines of the 
greater fathers of the church were being overclouded. 

"Many are called but few are chosen" is a stumbling 
block, unless we open our eyes to its obviously practical 
meaning; then it becomes luminous. Joseph receives 
a long-sleeved coat of many colors from his father, 
Jacob, who has received the title of Israel. Joseph's 
brethren are much incensed against him and also 
against their father, because of this act of seeming 
partiality displayed by their common father toward 
one of the lads. Envy, jealousy and all such hideous 
emotions make life wretched — destroy physical tissue 
and are behind more diseases than perhaps all other 
base emotions put together. 

Envy and such abominable feelings as jealous dis- 
like of our neighbors, are all products of senseless 
ignorance. They all spring from a false estimate of 
what constitutes and what makes for success. So long 
as we are blind enough to believe that one's downfall 
promotes another's rise, such emotions will stir in our 
bosoms as have from time immemorial disturbed the 
peace of the various sons of Jacob, who were enraged 
against Joseph because he was more highly endowed 
than they. 

In the regenerated state of humanity depicted in 
prophecy as a condition to be reached, a goal yet to be 

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Healing of the Nations 

won, we find twelve tribes sealed and twelve thousand 
sealed out of every tribe, so no tribe yields more nor 
less than any other. Here is equality, and here also is 
variety, but inequality has vanished. Still Israel, for a 
time, is distinct from all the rest of humanity; but 
eventually the multitude, innumerable by human cal- 
culation or mortal arithmetic, shares Israel's position, 
and stands a larger Israel, including the smaller, 
before the " throne" and before the "lamb." These 
wonderful correspondences open to us measureless con- 
tinents of spiritual territory, inviting us to explore and 
explore and explore, till we have at last discovered 
enough to afford us a plan, a perfect model, for the 
upbuilding of a terrestrial city in harmony with a su- 
perterrestrial design. 

Pain, sickness, sorrow and death are to be finally 
abolished. We are not told that they came into the 
world on any particular day in any calendar, but sim- 
ply that they came in consequence of certain inhar- 
monious relations between members of the human 
family, and that they must disappear whenever the 
causes which gave them birth are no longer operating. 
"The day and the hour knoweth no man." Chronologi- 
cal and geographical definitions are never interpreta- 
tions, but becloudings of a sacred text. Zion is 
wherever holiness prevails; Jerusalem is wherever 
peace is regnant. These two cities are to be married; 



69 



Health from Knowledge 

they are divinely appointed bride and bridegroom. 
When their nuptials have been celebrated within our 
human consciousness, the result of this interior wed- 
ding will appear without in all that pertains to indi- 
vidual and communal welfare. 

People speak of divine science, spiritual science, 
spiritual philosophy, as though it were all a matter of 
abstruse theory and bewildering technicality, when the 
very core of it all applies immediately to everyday 
needs and hourly necessities. Metaphysical hobby- 
riders achieve few and poor results because they do 
not expand their ideas till they take in the universe. 
As we must synthesize before we can correctly analyze, 
so we must take a broad, deep, high comprehensive 
view of life ere we can intelligently apply a theory in 
any branch of special local practice. 

If you would be a skillful oculist or aurist you must 
first be a general anatomist and physiologist, for you 
cannot understand the mechanism of eye or ear or any 
other organ, save as that organ is related to other 
organs in the organism we call the body. Leave out 
the brain and of what use is the eye? omit the heart 
and how is the ear to be supplied with blood? Local 
treatment is usually farcical, because based on funda- 
mental ignorance. Take skin for example; what 
causes soft, healthy, beautiful skin but good, pure, 
wholesome blood? Absurd, then, is it not to seek to 

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Healing of the Nations 

make perfect the outside of the personality except you 
are determined to do so as a result of first purifying 
the within? There is war within before there is war 
without ; so there must be peace within ere there can be 
peace without. By peace we do not mean compromise, 
but harmony. No truer or nobler words can well be 
spoken than those attributed to a truly valiant hero, 
"We will have peace at any honorable price." Where 
there is no honor there is no peace, though there is 
often found its crafty substitute, unholy compromise. 

The sword precedes the advent of the Prince of 
Peace. When he comes, whose right it is to reign over 
all the nations of the earth, the new order of peace is 
established for the first time in the history of the 
cycle. It is so with the individual also, for human 
experience in general is nothing other than an exten- 
sion or enlargement of human experience in particu- 
lar. Peacemakers are to be specially known as chil- 
dren of God. To as many as receive truth into their 
affections and thence manifest it in external conduct, 
is the beatitude applicable, "Blessed are the peace- 
makers, for they shall be called the children of God." 

It is the nature of light to shine and of salt to circu- 
late, therefore are the words true, "Ye are the light of 
the world," and "Ye are the salt of the earth." Mark 
well the language, for in both instances the phrase- 
ology is precise and cannot be altered without def ac- 

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Health from Knowledge 

ing the original conception or changing the root idea. 
It is a small thing comparatively to carry a light about 
with you, a kindled lamp that might at any time be ex- 
tinguished by a gust of wind; it is also but a small 
thing to carry a bag of salt with you which may soon 
become empty or be knocked out of your hand. To be 
light and to be salt is intensely significant, for that 
which you have may be taken from you, but that which 
you are is yours by right of such possession as results 
solely from well-earned development. 

As a cycle approaches its close (one is closing even 
now and melting into its successor) those who are the 
light and the salt are drawn mysteriously together; 
they are attracted to each other through the subtle 
agency of some compelling power, or better, some im- 
pelling force, which brings into the same assembly 
those who are especially fitted for each other's com- 
panionship. The many apartments in the one Father's 
house are revealed as distinct, but not as separated, 
societies of souls. Distinctiveness is beautiful, but 
separation is the cause of all the jealousies, hatreds, 
and murders which have ever been committed or ever 
can be known on earth. 

Separateness is death. Distinctiveness is revelation 
of that marvelous fullness or copiousness of life which 
inheres in the great I AM and is manifested through 
the countless entities, which are but expressions of the 
infinite eternal ego. 

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Healing of the Nations 

We have, each one of us, all the twelve tribes in us ; 
we even contain the number thirteen, and the still 
greater dual number twenty-six. There are twelve 
tribes, but there are twenty-four elders, for male and 
female must be equally expressed by every individ- 
ual before the Golden Era stands disclosed . Though 
we have all the tribes, male and female, (twenty-four) 
within us, and also the Master, who is both male and 
female (two) making the mystical twenty-six within 
our own economy, each one of us will be found in a 
perfected social and industrial state, in a specific 
place, engaged in a specific work. There will be 
eleven tribes dormant and one active in each one of 
us at any time when we shall be found in the Israel 
state, which is the enlightened condition for all hu- 
manity. 

All sorts of experiments will be tried, all sorts of 
nostrums will be administered through the agency 
of experimental sociology and political economy; all 
sorts of plans and projects will be discussed and stated, 
people will rush hither and thither to find a supposed 
Christ in a wilderness, on a hill-top, or in a secret 
chamber; but all these attempted constructions of an 
Ideal Commonwealth or Republic of Heaven will be 
vain in the sense that they will fail to accomplish what 
they set out to fulfill. But they will not be useless, 
because by means of them many people will gain a 

73 



Health from Knowledge 

measure of experience required by them as they jour- 
ney forward to a higher and far nobler realization of 
their hopeful dreams. 

Everybody who is seeking to establish a republic 
of harmony on earth, will do some good and get some 
good, but the final ultimation of harmony will not 
take place till palliative measures are abandoned for 
radical reform. "Ye must be born anew," or you can- 
not be healed, though in your old state you may be 
cured. There is a vast difference between these two 
.- — curing and healing, a difference sadly overlooked 
by the majority of practitioners, regardless of 
whether they are dealing with the body politic or only 
the corporeal frame of a solitary individual who ap- 
plies for mental treatment. 

Though astrology, chirology and other branches 
of occult science are not necessary to highly intuitive 
natures, we always advocate their intelligent consid- 
eration at the hands of the general public; because 
there are two distinct ways in which they can be made 
helpful in rendering individuals and communities 
healthier and happier. 

First, let us consider that indications may reveal 
destiny without in any way suggesting fate, for, as 
Mrs. Ursula Gestef eld and other able teachers affirm, 
fate can be conquered as destiny is made known. Des- 
tiny is to be unfolded from within through the agency 

74 



Healing of the Nations 

of faith and industry. Fate is to be conquered by the 
unfolding of destiny. The term "fate" properly cov- 
ers everything circumstantial or incidental which 
would thwart the fulfillment of our destiny, but when 
rightly dealt with, it constitutes a portion of that 
which we employ in the building of the fabric of our 
personality. 

The twelve tribes of Israel in the Apocalypse are as 
distinct, each from the others, as when they first ap- 
peared in Genesis, even though they have become re- 
generate. They are now like unto precious gems, 
cut and polished and freed from all alloy. Sapphires 
do not lose their blue, nor rubies their red light by pol- 
ishing. Emeralds are still green after the lapidary 
has expended his best skill upon them ; so it is with the 
redemption of the tribes and all that this expression 
signifies. 

In the Temple which is humanity, there are all 
manners of precious stones and they are enumerated 
to signify distinctiveness in individual work. If your 
light shines and you are like unto a sapphire, you will 
not shine with the particular glow which would be 
yours had you resembled an amethyst ; but you are all 
equally precious in the sight of the wise, though the 
foolish will esteem some of you highly and treat oth- 
ers with disdain. 

Many people who pose as teachers before the world 

75 



Health from Knowledge 

to-day, say there is no science of healing of the nations 
or of indivduals, because they have not as yet discov- 
ered the science of health. Honest you may be and 
yet ignorant of science, as you may be a good man and 
yet not know how to solve a simple mathematical 
problem; furthermore, there may be some problems 
which you can solve now and others which you cannot 
solve yet, but all are soluble, and not only soluble per 
se, but by yourself individually, as you grow into a 
knowledge of how to solve them. 

Division of work is orderly, therefore ideal society 
is divided into groups, but not into factions. There 
ought to be only one church and one political party; 
but there will surely be a number of churches and par- 
ties until wisdom is sufficiently revealed to unite the 
sundered, heal breaches and abolish dissentions of 
every kind through understanding of fundamental 
unity. 

Extraneous authority belongs to an early stage of 
human growth. Paternalism antedates fraternalism 
in the evolution of governmental order. So long as 
a few are enlightened, it is but right that the enlight- 
ened few should rule, and it will be so in spite of all 
your protests, for rulers rule from the same cause that 
cream rises to the top of the milkpail. 

Hereditary rulership is a farce. Put a weak man 
on the throne and a strong woman will be the ruler 

76 



Healing of the Nations 

and he the figure-head. Place a weak woman in the 
place of authority and a strong man will hold the reins 
of government behind her, and though the people see 
her figure, they feel his hand of iron. Let a strong 
man and woman occupy a place of influence together 
and, as in the case of Queen Victoria and Prince Al- 
bert, a joint exercise of authority is felt for the good 
of the whole community. Weakness always betrays 
itself in fault finding, while strength is ever self-re- 
liant. 

Strong people need capable assistants and they get 
them, for they have the organizing power which first 
attracts, and then firmly holds what it has attracted. 
Great individuals know their own place and keep it; 
they are consequently never fussy, intrusive or med- 
dlesome. They have neither time nor inclination for 
gossip, nor are they cast down nor rendered unhappy 
by the misery and sin around them. They are above 
sin; they overcome sorrow; being lights they shine 
into darkness and darkness exists no more ; being salt 
they enter into tainted places and preserve the social 
fabric from decay. Far too active are they in the ac- 
complishment of good work to spend much time or 
many tears in bemoaning iniquities. A Master weeps 
before the resurrection but never after it. 

Ascension and glorification represent states beyond 
tears. Tears there cannot be save in those conditions 



77 



Health from Knowledge 

of humiliation where the soul is for a while perplexed 
and bewildered and has not yet finished its victory 
over all that is meant by Golgotha and Calvary. There 
are tears on Olivet, but none on Tabor. Transfigura- 
tion is too bright to allow of sadness ; thus when a life 
is seen transfigured, its glory is so dazzling that those 
who have not yet come to know the meaning of trans- 
figuration are smitten down with wonder, so amazed 
are they at beholding not only another's glory, but a 
forecast of their own 

The twelve tribes in the Apocalypse have come up 
out of great tribulation ( a word derived from the latin 
tirbula, a thistle) , or as the passage is otherwise trans- 
latable, "out of continual friction," a process of long 
time irritation. How strangely are we reminded ev- 
erywhere of the career of Job; we meet that ancient 
worthy at every turn and we find that he is us and we 
are he. Where are you in the book of Job? (you are 
going through it and you are somewhere in it) is al- 
ways a very pertinent enquiry. 

Divine Science and Spiritual Philosophy are ex- 
pressions; what do they mean? Divine Science is 
knowledge of how to live ! It is biology, anthropology, 
psychology and theology all rolled into one. The the- 
ologian would study God outside of Man; then he 
needs a Henry Ward Beecher to tell him that his 
creed probably begins at the wrong end ; he must be an 

78 



Healing of the Nations 

anthropologist or anthropologian, he must know Man 
before he can know Deity. Some physiologists ignore 
the psychic body, and some psychologists ignore the 
flesh. Small fractionists, every one of them! Good 
meaning people, doubtless, and by no means alto- 
gether useless, provided some larger fractionist (lack- 
ing integrality) can select the pieces of the various 
cults and weave them into a beautiful mosaic. 

The Pentateuch is still a mosaic, even though 
"higher critics" should declare that no man named 
Moses ever wrote any portion of it. In their unillum- 
ined state, the twelve sons of Jacob are envious and 
contentious, and in their unregenerate degree the 
twelve specially chosen disciples of Jesus are rivalrous. 
There is a strife among them as to which shall be con- 
sidered greatest, but so idiotic is the strifeful temper 
that the mother of the two sons of Zebedee positively 
requested the Master (though she would be horrified 
had she understood the import of her words) that 
one of her sons should be numbered among the goats 
on the left, and the other among the sheep on the right 
hand of the Judge of all mankind. It is only igno- 
rance that asks favors in such a way as to implore that 
one son should sit on the right side and the other son 
on the left side of a monarch; for the two sides of an 
earthly monarch are unequal — the right hand ranking 
higher than the left. 

79 



Health from Knowledge 

In the celestial state there are no better and no poor- 
er positions. The heavenly state is a condition of har- 
mony, wherein all are f ellow- workers ; and but one 
spirit breathes through all, though there are diversities 
of gifts, all good gifts are equal. Health and har- 
mony are everywhere inseparable. You are a healer 
exactly in so far as you are a harmonizer, and not a 
fraction of an inch further, and you are a harmonizer 
exactly to the extent that you are a comprehensionist 
and not the least step further. 

You must then, if you would heal, study individual 
peculiarities and eccentricities, not to blame them or 
eradicate them, but to point to the highest use of all of 
them. Let there be no shadow of a mistake here ; vices 
are not peculiarities, diseases are not eccentricities, 
therefore they may not be included in the list of nor- 
mal differentiations. The cabbage differs from the 
cauliflower, but the worm in either is a blight. There 
must be no mildew on any character, no canker eating 
into any type of servant or service, as you are wise to 
perceive differences, you will be bold to rebuke iniqui- 
ties. 

All types are redeemable, but in the regeneration 
the ass remains an ass, but it has become white, and the 
horse remaining a horse has become white also. There 
are four horses mentioned in the book of Revelations, 
but only the white horse is worthy to afford a seat for 

80 



Healing of the Nations 

the Son of God. In the order of evolution the ass is 
redeemed first and the horse later, but both are finally 
regenerated. We can accomplish larger works and 
subdue stronger appetites only after we have done 
lesser things and controlled feebler appetites. 

In the external or manifest order of the universe, 
there must be an ingathering of tribes, one by one, 
till at length all are gathered ; for some are elder and 
some are younger brethren, but no brother is a 
brother's superior, all are equal. The enumeration of 
the twelve tribes in the 7th chapter of Revelations is 
as follows: 1, Judah; 2, Reuben; 3, Gad; 4, Asher; 
5, Nepthalim; 6, Mannasses; 7, Simeon; 8, Levi; 9, 
Issachar; 10, Zebulun; 11, Joseph; 12, Benjamin. 
Mannasses is the new name for the twelfth tribe now 
that Dan has departed. There is a great secret in all 
this, and that secret is the secret of regeneration, 
even the redemption of the serpent and the restora- 
tion of Satan to the state of Lucifer. 

Man falls through sensuality, but through trans- 
muted sensuality he rises. Millions of addresses will 
be given and thousands of books will be written dur- 
ing the next few years on this very question. It can- 
not be balked or dodged, for the heart of health is in 
it, and the understanding thereof is the restoration of 
the "lost word" of the Master, which will heal univer- 
sally when spoken with faith and understanding of 
its mighty import. 

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Health from Knowledge 

Regeneration must be complete even to the trans- 
formation of Dan into Mannasses, of Judas Iscariot 
into Matthias, of Satan into Lucifer. Verily there is 
no evil in reality, but so long as discord exists evil 1 
will be present with us in appearance. Redemption 
is a new thing ; the plan of it is to us a novelty. The 
scheme of salvation is a geometrical design; the plan 
of redemption is as a sum in mathematics. The ex- 
ample is set by the exampler, but each individual soul 
must work out its own self-contained salvation. Dis- 
pute no longer over the mystery of atonement, for it 
is now being clearly revealed to all who have eyes to 
behold and ears to hearken to the unveiling of an age- 
long mystery. 

There must be demonstrative teaching of truth 
and there must be also dissemination of good through 
the agency of living influence. "How is it that ye 
do not understand" are words yet addressible to mul- 
titudes who claim to be teachers — not merely disciples 
in the school of truth. No intelligent observer can 
fail to see that, though there are myriads of smaller 
ways, there are but two really great methods through 
which humanity can be brought to a knowledge of the 
Law of Life. One of these methods appeals to under- 
standing, the other to affection. One without the 
other will not work, because we are dual and our 
needs are correspondingly dual. We act through our 

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Healing of the Nations 

intellects, but from our wills, consequently the love 
of right precedes right action, but the latter invari- 
ably follows close upon the former. 

The mistake made by so many practitioners of 
something they elect to call divine, spiritual or mental 
healing is, that they look for the correspondences of 
disorder; and how can it be possible to find the cause 
of health in the dustbin of disease. It is as reasonable 
to analyze foul sputum swarming with baccili, expect- 
ing to discover therein the remedy for tuberculosis or 
any other affliction of the lungs or chest, as to hunt 
amid the symptoms of disorder for the antidote to 
disease. Because we have transferred a false method 
from the objective or physical plane of action, does 
not render the search any less barren of desired re- 
sult. 

As many people are more familiar with astrological 
than with Israelitish terminology, we will mention ere 
we close this lesson the twelve kinds of people accord- 
ing to the Zodiacal classification in consecutive order 
as they are usually given : 

First — Aries, the head. Special aptitude for head- 
work — liability to disease being found always in the 
region where sensitiveness and susceptibility are 
greatest, head trouble is brought on in this type of 
person whenever undue excitement is permitted or 
disturbance of any mental variety occurs. 



83 



Health from Knowledge 

Second — Taurus, the neck. Executive ability is 
the general aptitude of this sign. Throat more easily 
affected than rest of body 

Third — Gemini, shoulders, arms and hands. Chief 
characteristics; manual dexterity and versatility. 
Parts of the body indicated by the sign weakest or 
strongest, according to use or abuse of those organs. 

Fourth — Cancer, the breast. Inclined to secret, 
silent, motherly occupation; conservative in tempera- 
ment and apt to slowness in motion. Region of the 
breast most sensitive section of the organism. 

Fifth — Leo, the heart. Strong love nature; emo- 
tional, adapted to reach the many or the few through 
geniality and sympathy. The literal heart in persons 
possessing such a temprament acts very quickly and 
is more easily thrown out of gear by excitement than 
any other organ. 

Sixth — Virgo, the solar plexus. A synthetic and 
rational type of mind given to delight in things of the 
understanding more than in sentiments of the heart. 
Such natures have intellectual perplexities and for 
them rational mind cure is the only cure. 

Seventh — Libra, the hips. Chief disposition is di- 
rection of analyzing, weighing and measuring all 
things. When such people have become disturbed, 
equilibrium is most readily restored by looking at 
both sides of a subject, presenting contrasts and show- 
ing unity where there cannot be uniformity. 

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Healing of the Nations 

Eighth — Scorpio, the reproductive system. Highly 
nervous and active temperament, given to passing 
judgment quickly; standing more in need of caution 
than any other variety of mankind. 

Ninth — Sagittarius, the thighs. Directness of aim 
and general decisiveness is the strength of this divis- 
ion of humanity; its weakness consists in liability to 
push ahead onesself regardless of the rights of others. 

Tenth — Capricorn, the knees. Persevering, climb- 
ing; of ambitious nature, needing to transmute per- 
sonal ambition into universal aspiration. Such peo- 
ple easily bend, but never break ; they are natural bur- 
den bearers ; their chief weakness is a too materialistic 
tendency. 

Eleventh — Aquarius, the ankles. Capable of af- 
fording support to others; not so originative as dis- 
seminative; inclined to teach and to water the sown 
seed ; chief liability to disorder through sense of cheer- 
lessness and lack of appreciation of their own and 
others' efforts. 

Twelfth — Pisces, the feet. Adapted by nature for 
the seemingly lowest services of life ; capable of glori- 
fying small activities and doing final things well. 
Chief tendency to disorder arises through fussiness 
and careful anxiety concerning petty details. Such 
people need to see through their actual work (which 
is often small ) to the ideal which it is serving to exter- 

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Health from Knowledge 

nalize in an often humdrum, monotonous, and enig- 
matical manner. 

You will find all these varieties of people among 
your patients. Remember they are all good, useful, 
necessary, all equally so, but they need special words 
adapted to their particular functionings. The work 
of the wise teacher is always to discriminate and adapt 
the word of universal truth when dealing with an indi- 
vidual, to the specific needs of that individual, hence 
the particular value of private and personal, in addi- 
tion to public and general ministrations. 






86 



LESSON V. 

ENIGMAS CONFRONTED IN HEALING. 

Though we can often very clearly trace the connec- 
tion between an outward condition and its inward pro- 
ducing cause, there are many cases frequently pre- 
sented to our notice where it seems incredible that any 
correspondence whatever can exist between the phase 
of disorder afflicting a chronic invalid and the mental 
disposition of the afflicted person. A frequent exam- 
ple is that supplied in cases of gout, rheumatism, stiff 
joints, etc., which are commonly attributed to stub- 
borness and selfishness. "They are a stiff-necked and 
rebellious people" is a very old complaint made con- 
cerning Israel by Israel's greatest seers and prophets. 
Doubtless the originating cause of such ailments as 
these just enumerated, and many others of similar na- 
ture, is rightly defined as stubborn obstinacy and un- 
due self-seeking in thought, if not in action ; still there 
are many occasions when we meet with apparent con- 
tradictions of this general rule — contradictions so fla- 
grant that we feel almost tempted to quote the old fal- 
lacy, "Exceptions prove the rule," and offer it in ex- 
planation of what is seemingly otherwise inexplicable. 

Such a subterfuge, however, is thoroughly unscien- 
tific ; for we know there are no exceptions to the rule in 
mathematics, and unless our metaphysics are in strict 



87 



Health from Knowledge 

accord with mathematical reasoning, we are in a sorry 
plight ; it will not therefore do to plead exceptions to 
the rule, for a true rule is undeviating. Another ex- 
planation offers itself which is far more worthy of so- 
ber consideration, viz., hereditary tendency; and still 
another yet worthier of our regard, viz., present sus- 
ceptibility to surrounding influences. 

Mrs. Gestefeld in her admirable book, "How We 
Master Our Fate," has a chapter on "The Power and 
the Powerlessness of Heredity," in which it is clearly 
shown, that on the sense plane of our existence, hered- 
ity holds us till we have overcome hereditary tenden- 
cies. The word tendency is a correct one, for there are 
no hereditary virtues, vices or diseases, but only tend- 
ency or bias toward a particular expression of strength 
or weakness in a given direction can be inherited. This 
inheritance is vanquishable ; nothing being invincible 
except the divinity within us which is sure to assert it- 
self triumphantly at some time, somewhere. Heredi- 
tary dispositions are seemingly unconquerable in 
many instances, because no effort is put forth to con- 
quer them; it seems indeed that inherited weaknesses 
are tacitly admitted to hold sway, and the plea is made 
for them that they are inheritances, therefore we must 
give in to them, no matter how we may detest them or 
how earnestly we may long to be delivered from the 
burden of them. 



88 



Enigmas Confronted in Healing 

Mistakes of the most radical and wide-reaching 
character are made in connection with heredity, which 
is only "original sin" in a pseudo-scientific instead of a 
would-be religious dress. Inheritances can be thrown 
away! Because you have inherited property does not 
mean that you cannot get rid of it. If property has 
been left to you you are responsible for what you d<* 
with it, but you need not allow it to do anything with 
you. Here we come to revoking the inheritance,— 
cutting off the entail, — attaining to the commence- 
ment of the regenerate state, — breaking with our past 
and letting the dead past bury its dead. 

Do not deny the fact of mortal heredity when con- 
versing with patients who are suffering through bond- 
age to it, but explain to them the way of escape It be- 
wilders people most unnecessarily to deny the exist- 
ence of what is, to them, self-evident, but no conversa- 
tion is so helpful as an encouraging talk which shows 
a way out of the mire on to solid rock. When a special 
weakness oppresses the unselfish child of a selfish par- 
ent, remember that the son need not continue to bear 
affliction in consequence of the father's iniquity. Show 
as clearly as you possibly can how conditions are sub- 
jectively perpetuated and objectively revealed; and 
then at once proceed to apply your statements to the 
case immediately in hand. 

Reason somewhat thus: Your mother may have 

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Health from Knowledge 

been obstinate and unyielding to conviction, a very 
trying person in many ways, but you have seen from 
early childhood the error of that way, so that instead 
of walking in her footsteps, so far as they were errone- 
ous, you have resolved to be gentle, patient, consider- 
ate of others and generally unselfish. Your affliction 1 
springs from not having broken loose from the subjec- 
tive family bondage in which you are held. You have 
never freed yourself ; you have not yet severed the cord 
which still binds you to your unhappy ancestry. You 
must free yourself, but a healer can help you to do it. 

Here comes in the most vital gist and application of 
the law of healing science ; and there is a healing sci- 
ence, not merely an art of healing, though in their ig- 
norance of the law whereby healing is rendered scien- 
tific, many practitioners stop short with a half demon- 
strable theory. 

In conquering hereditary tendencies it is absolutely 
necessary to affirm your own power over what would 
continue to exercise sway in your organism did you 
not rise above it. Hereditary tendencies work secretly 
in many places where we least think of them as resid- 
ing, and because of their deeply veiled character they 
render manifest conditions enigmatical, but not there- 
fore insuperable. Our present access to the boundless 
reservoir of divine strength must be confidently and 
persistently affirmed till the limitations of ancestry 

90 



Enigmas Confronted in Healing 

drop away one by one, till at length they have all de- 
parted. But always remember they are not going to 
depart because you tell them to go; on the contrary, 
the more you think of them the more vigorous they are 
likely to become. Denials of the common sort resem- 
ble shaving off of hair, which certainly is not its eradi- 
cation, for everybody knows that the more frequently 
a beard or mustache is shaved off, the stronger the 
roots appear to become ; therefore shaving is often 
recommended for increasing the vigor of the hair. 

As natural law is the same on all planes and in all 
varieties of expression, disagreeable tendencies are ag- 
gravated and intensified in consequence of the atten- 
tion called to them by mistaken formulas for treat- 
ment. "Whatsoever things are excellent and of good 
repute, think on these things," is indeed a wise coun- 
sel, and we need not longer wonder at the seemingly 
miraculous cures effected by Paul and his brother 
apostles in the first Christian century, as compared 
with the meagre results attending the practice of so 
many practitioners of a later day, when we consider 
the great insight into law displayed by the few really 
great healers of olden days, an insight which stands 
forth in glowing conspicuousness in such magnificent 
sentences as the one just quoted. 

There is nothing excellent and nothing of good 
repute in asthma, catarrh and a host of other abomi- 

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Health from Knowledge 

nable ailments, with which no one would ever be af- 
flicted if we did but learn and practice a correct sys- 
tem of breathing. 

A wise healer might reason as follows: "I do not 
pronounce you free from bronchitis or any other mal- 
ady when I give you a scientific treatment, for I never 
allow myself to dwell on a word which expresses an 
idea of which I desire to rid you. I know enough of 
the law of correspondences to turn the tables on the 
enemy by employing suggestion in such a way as to 
suggest to you that you can and do breathe freely and 
perfectly. I declare to you that your entire vocal 
anatomy is perfect." Exactly at this point comes in 
the necessity for enforcing the often neglected fact, 
that when one who is treating another suggests to that 
other that he should breathe correctly, the two must 
breathe together who formerly breathed widely apart. 

Whenever a company of musicians breathe to- 
gether, they play far more correctly than when they 
fail thus to harmonize in breath. The patient does not 
inhale the healer's breath, nor does the healer inhale 
the patient's breath, which would be far worse ; but the 
healer suggests to the patient that they shall breathe 
together, and as the healer is already breathing in a 
far more wholesome and scientific manner than is the 
patient, it begins to come to pass that the invalid 
breathes away his invalided condition through com- 

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Enigmas Confronted in Healing 

mencing to inhale and exhale scientifically, L e., in 
harmony with universal order. 

Some cases are harder to deal with and take longer 
time to cure than others, not because the type of 
disease is any more serious in those cases than in 
others, but because of the leech-like tenacity with 
which many people clutch beliefs which they have 
inherited and of which they are personally uncon- 
scious. Unconsciousness of this sort is simply 
thoughtlessness. 

It is surprising how much we take for granted, 
or as a matter of course, which we should never 
think of accepting as reasonable or true were it pro- 
posed to us as a new suggestion. New suggestions 
which are destined to take the place of old fallacious 
mental substrata must appeal directly to reason in 
the clearest and most convincing manner. New 
thoughts compel attention! new ideas command 
either respect or opposition; they never pass unchal- 
lenged. No preacher, lecturer, or author ever gives 
a new idea to the world but he challenges attention 
which is friendly or unfriendly according to the na- 
ture of the idea presented, and the temper of the 
people to whom it is presented. Chronic invalids 
and all people suffering from hereditary distemper 
are sorely in need of new thoughts; and if they are 
shocked and enraged at first, we should never be 

93 



Health from Knowledge 

alarmed or disturbed, because excitement follows a 
stirring appeal to dormant consciousness. 

Hereditary leanings show forth in the most tri- 
fling as well as in the more important groups of 
habits, and it is often difficult at first to trace any 
connection between so simple a habit as the obvious 
one of concession to prevailing customs and the deep 
seated weakness which is holding a victim in chains 
who might otherwise be free from all fetters. Some 
people have inherited a belief that they can eat only 
certain kinds of food ; that they must rise at a certain 
hour, say seven o'clock every morning, and that they 
must be in bed at ten or eleven, or some other defi- 
nitely prescribed hour, otherwise they will lose their 
"beauty sleep" or something else vainly imagined 
by people who are in total ignorance of the law of 
thought expression. Now these errors would be 
hardly worth challenging and refuting were it not 
for the fact that they cause untold misery to many 
honorable persons who, because they entertain them, 
are bound by them. 

A night clerk at a hotel, a printer, reporter, night 
editor or some other person obliged to be up all 
night and who must therefore sleep during the day, 
need not be ill or any less well than his neighbor who 
works by day and sleeps by night. But many peo- 
ple will naturally enough enquire, are there not fit 



94 



Enigmas Confronted in Healing 

times for active exercise and legitimate periods for 
repose? Certainly there are; but different people 
engaged in varying occupations can be equally 
healthy provided they conform their thoughts to the 
activities in which they are engaged; and further do 
we contend that if one kind of work and place is 
really better suited to some special individual than 
another would be, there is force or potency enough 
in well sustained silent affirmation to bring about 
the identical change in outward circumstances, which 
will render such most desirable from the standpoint 
of that particular individual. 

Heredity is greatly over estimated. It is a sign 
of the highest culture of the present age to largely 
discountenance belief in it and turn toward the more 
liberal and wiser philosophy now happily increasing 
in vogue — of maintaining the right of the individ- 
ual to choose his own career regardless of the posi- 
tion supplied by forefathers. Such hereditary 
names as Baker, Miller, Taylor and many others, 
prove that we have well-nigh outgrown that servil- 
ity to heredity which formerly reigned almost su- 
preme in every part of Europe and which still pre- 
vails in some sections of the East. We are intro- 
duced to a Mr. Brewer and then to a Mr. Butcher 
and we find that one is a clergyman and the other a 
district attorney, and we express no astonishment at 

95 



Health from Knowledge 

the incongruity; but had we lived two or three hun- 
dred years ago, we should have met with no Bakers 
except their occupation justified their title, and we 
should have taken it almost as a matter of course, 
that the son should follow commercially, as well as 
otherwise, in the footsteps of his father. 

If there were really such a law of heredity as many 
affect to believe in, we should certainly see its oper- 
ation exactly where we do not find it. Strongly in- 
dividualized children are very apt to grow up so ex- 
tremely unlike their parents and all their near rela- 
tives, that it is difficult to believe that they do indeed 
belong to the family into which they were born. 

No theosophical tenet of reincarnation, or of the 
effects of Karma accumulated in a previous exist- 
ence, is anything like so dumbfounding as the con- 
ventional belief in heredity, which voices itself in the 
stale platitude, "Like father, like son." A much 
wiser proverb reads, "The boy is father of the man;'' 
this latter may be accepted and acted upon, as it 
affords a spur to exertion in youth under conviction 
that manhood will reveal the good results of noble 
preparation for maturity. 

What passes for heredity in many cases is only the 
outcome of multiplied suggestions which take very 
great hold upon sensitive dispositions, though less 
susceptible natures are often but little affected by 

96 



Enigmas Confronted in Healing 

them. Here comes in a good word for "unruly" 
children, many of whom are only protesting instinct- 
ively against the unwisdom of blinded parents who 
are too bigoted, ignorant or domineering to respect 
the right of a child to individual expression. The 
most rebellious child in many a family is by far the 
healthiest and grows up the finest, most useful and 
successful man or woman. Why is this the case? 
We do not place a premium on rebelliousness, but 
we do maintain that when a system of training is 
anti-educational, — its effect being to repress instead 
of to unfold, — healthy children are neither naughty 
or lacking in natural affection, because they honor 
their native instinct of self -protection and try to 
show their elders the mistake they are making in try- 
ing to force children into unnatural grooves. 

Selfishness frequently revenges itself upon the un- 
selfish, provided these latter are weak and unresist- 
ing; and here comes a much needed solution of many 
of our hardest problems. Selfish people exact ser- 
vices from the unselfish, which the unselfish have no 
right to render, and in the rendering of which equity 
is outraged, and no one can outrage equity without 
having to pay the penalty, even to the uttermost far- 
thing. Society is benefited, the progress of the hu- 
man race is assisted by justice and benevolence, 
therefore universal law or order, which ever makes 



97 



Health from Knowledge 

steadily for righteousness, necessarily opposes all 
weak truckling to error, and instead of rewarding 
the knock-kneed sycophant who bows to tyranny 
and practices self-abnegation, this uncompromising 
law deals its heaviest blows on the poor, weak, trem- 
bling creatures who are ever ready to immolate 
themselves upon the altar of unrighteous concession 
to injustice. 

Now we have a clue to the origin of the selfish- 
ness expressed in unselfish Aunt Jemima's rheuma- 
tism, and self-sacrificing Sister Lucretia's stiff neck 
and unbendable finger joints. You dear, misguided 
women, are reaping what you have encouraged oth- 
ers to sow, and though your intentions were excel- 
lent, your judgment was lamentably at fault. You 
must remember in future that the selfishness you are 
catering to in your brother Tom or your niece Jane 
is quite as detrimental to the welfare of the social 
fabric as though you practiced it yourself. Remem- 
ber, we implore you, that whoever assists another to 
develop any trait on encourage any tendency, is held 
responsible therefor, even as though he were himself 
the active, actual culprit. 

Correspondences are not so difficult to trace when 
this torchlight blazes, the path of their discovery. In 
examining any case that may come under your im- 
mediate notice and demand attention from you, it is 

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Enigmas Confronted in Healing 

always essential that you should carefully discrimi- 
nate between embodied and reflected conditions. 
Because so little of this needed discrimination is 
commonly employed, much confusion obtains con- 
cerning the slow development of the process of heal- 
ing in one case and the almost instantaneous relief 
effected in another, even when two cases are appar- 
ently of equal long standing and gravity, and equal- 
ly faithful treatment is given in both instances. 

Swedenborg has wisely told all who will listen to 
him that thought gives presence, but only love brings 
conjunction. Were people to discriminate closely 
between these two important words, presence and 
conjunction, they would see daylight where darkness 
now reigns. The presence of a disorder, as to its 
symptoms, is often due exclusively to one's partici- 
pation in the thought of another, and we all know 
how many people in these nervous times are intensely 
susceptible to each other's mental state and physical 
conditions also. Epidemics spread through the con- 
tagion of sympathy even where there is no conscious 
fear and where there is no other predisposition to at- 
tack, save the very prevalent one of yielding to the 
thoughts and beliefs and adopting the practices of 
one's neighbors unreasonably. 

If people are conjoined in a state of discord, i. e.j 
if they are in the affection of an inharmony, they can- 



99 



Health from Knowledge 

not possibly be substantially benefited unless or un- 
til they are emancipated from the clutch of that mis- 
guided affection. Positive, moral, educational work 
needs to be done in such instances, but in the other 
group of cases referred to, where only reflected con- 
ditions are present, an emancipating word is all that 
needs to be spoken, and provided it is spoken it mat- 
ters very little, if at all, how it is spoken, whether si- 
lently or aloud, or first aloud and then silently, or 
vice versa. Any reader of the foregoing pages who 
is disposed to give careful thought and earnest at- 
tention to the work of healing, will quickly be able to 
make use of the hints already given, but to em- 
phasize the leading points as forcibly as possible, we 
shall throw the remainder of this lesson into the form 
of a brief catechism which will be found extremely 
convenient for ready reference. 

The following questions are in susbtance such as 
are most frequently put by earnest students inquir- 
ing along this particular line of study. The answers 
are in substance replies which have given much help 
to many questioners who have found themselves 
able to practically apply the suggestions therein con- 
tained. 

(Q.) Do you teach that separate phases of dis- 
order, such as gout, rheumatism, sore throat, etc., 
proceed from some definite state of mental confu- 

100 



Enigmas Confronted in Healing 

sion or inharmony, and that there is a specific form- 
ula (if we only knew it) for the eradication of each 
distinct variety of disorder? 

(A.) Such a conclusion is warranted by research 
and observation, but only so far as the first cause or 
origin of such distempers is concerned. Very often 
the first cause of the disorder is far back of the per- 
son now suffering from it ; therefore, though you are 
always right in giving affirmative treatments declar- 
ing the reality of the exact opposite of the manifest 
distemper, you are not just to your patient if you 
universally insist that one who is now afflicted in a 
special manner, has brought that particular afflic- 
tion upon himself by indulgence in the error of which 
the disease is a phenomenal outpicturing. 

(Q.) But if what you have just declared is true, 
how do you account for the presence of a disorder in 
a person who has not begotten it from his own 
thought? how did he contract it, — from others? 

(A.) Yes, and through weak susceptibility to 
their erroneous states of thought and action. The 
question becomes quite pathetic at this point, and 
still more so as we follow it to its logical conclusion; 
for having to face facts we are compelled to admit 
that persons who abhor sensuality are often victim- 
ized by what they detest, and persons whose own dis- 
positions are toward temperance in all things are vic- 

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Health from Knowledge 

timized by their grief in consequence of others' 
inebriety. 

(Q.) But are not many cases, according to this 
view, hopeless? how, for instance, can a wife, hus- 
band, child, or parent fail to be deeply concerned 
over the wrong doing of so near and well beloved a 
relative? Do you advocate callous indifference to 
those around us? is unconcern for others the only way 
of salvation for ourselves? 

(A.) We do not advocate callousness or indif- 
ferentism, but we do insist that there is a far higher 
way of dealing with people who are engulfed in error 
than the method usually adopted, which is to try and 
deal with the error. Correct practice deals with the 
individual whom the error has temporarily overcome, 
in order that he may rise to a sense of his own innate 
nobility and voluntarily arise out of subserviency to 
lower desires to mastery over every lust or appetite 
which wars against the soul. You must heal yourself 
in so far as this, that you are no longer afflicted as 
you once were by the degradation of those about you, 
for not until you can truthfully say, "None of these 
things move me," will you be able to help others to 
move the things out of their path which are now mov- 
ing them in wrong directions. Master and servant 
to the same thing at the same time we cannot be. It 
stands to reason that if you are being mastered by 

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Enigmas Confronted in Healing 

the errors with which you are surrounded, you are 
one of the victims of those errors. While you remain 
a victim, you cannot effectually pose as a conqueror, 
however brave the words may be which fall from 
your tongue, for they do not express the feelings of 
your inner nature. 

(Q.) But what are people to do when they are 
forced by circumstances to live in an atmosphere of 
perpetual discord, and are even bound to associate 
in the most intimate manner with persons whose lives 
are impure? 

(A.) It is necessary to teach that the only in- 
evitable circumstance which surrounds anybody is his 
own occult atmosphere or aura, and when this affords 
protection, he is safe no matter where he may be. 
The entire question of susceptibility and non-sus- 
ceptibility is wrapped up in the open doctrine of the- 
osophy. The neophyte who becomes a hierophant, 
becomes such exactly in proportion as he learns how 
to gain control over his personal emanations. A 
master is one who has built for himself a wall of 
protection around his personality which shuts out all 
intruders. Whilst you are building your wall, you 
are of course less capable of resistance to adverse con- 
ditions than after you have fully constructed it, but 
if anyone sets to work in real earnest to build this 
psychic parapet, he is sure to eventually succeed. Suc- 

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Health from Knowledge 

cess is always gradually obtained, but it is promoted 
by taking note of even the smallest victories and re- 
fusing to dwell upon even the largest defeats. Vic- 
tories are real. Defeats are simply negative expres- 
sions, showing that triumphs though winable are not 
yet won. To give in to the thought that you must 
submit to anything, hinders progress and hampers 
growth, while to determinately affirm that the mas- 
tery is in your own power, and that you can and will 
rise superior to every limitation, is the sure road to 
final victory. 

(Q.) But granting all you say concerning our own 
protection, how are we, on such terms, to help our 
brethren on to higher levels of attainment? Are we 
to selfishly protect ourselves and leave those nearest 
and dearest to us to suffer the direful consequences 
of their transgressions? 

(A.) There are two ways only whereby we can truly 
help others; one is by silent influence, the other by 
good example, and in both these ways shall we prove 
inestimably useful to those around us, so soon as we 
have conquered our weakness which cannot uplift oth- 
ers and certainly does depress us. When you are 
strong in your own might, you are a tower of strength 
to those about you, for virtue goes forth from you, 
and as people who are easily led astray are highly 
susceptible, your quiet, persuasive influence in their 

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Enigmas Confronted in Healing 

vicinity causes them to feel a leading or prompting 
in a new and higher direction. Just as temptations 
to wrong doing are silent and insidious in many in- 
stances, — and the silent foe entraps the victim una- 
wares by stealth, — so are temptations to righteousness 
stealthy and insidious also. As evil thoughts are in- 
sinuated, so are good thoughts insinuated through the 
medium of a common communicating atmosphere. 
Remember that the tremulous ether all about us is 
the unseen medium by means of which all conceiv- 
able varieties of mental impressions are conveyed 
from place to place, and it depends upon what you 
give the breezes to bear, as to what freight they will 
carry for you. 

Then as to oral suggestion, outward example, and 
all that pertains to the objective theatre of existence, 
no good ever comes from raging or weeping, or as 
people say, "carrying on" and showing that you are 
"feeling badly." Strength, not weakness, impervi- 
ousness, not a state that succumbs, furnishes healing 
pabulum; therefore the words "heal thyself" and 
"when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren" 
call for much wider and wiser commentary than they 
usually receive. It is weakness and weakness only, in 
nine case out of every ten, that is the cause of seem- 
ingly unmerited suffering; therefore the "sinful" 
theory of the origin of disease needs modification, or 

105 



Health from Knowledge 

at least explanation, for though true at root, it is very 
often pitiably misapplied, and misapplication may do 
a cruel wrong to a tender sensitive nature. Discrim- 
ination sees the distinction between grieving over an- 
other's sin and thereby getting some of the effect of it 
yourself through dwelling upon it, and indulging in 
your own mind the error you condemn in another ; also 
between living a selfish life for purposes of personal 
gratification, and a protest against weak yielding to 
the exactions of others and allowing yourself to be- 
come particeps criminis in their offence. 

( Q ) . But does it not seem hard and unfair that we 
should be punished for the sins of others, especially 
when we are self-denying enough to forego our own 
pleasure for others' happiness? 

(A.) Just at that point the world makes the great- 
est of all its mistakes and falls into the most grievous 
of all its errors. The truth concerning this matter, 
hard though it may sound to unaccustomed ears, is 
that we richly deserve to pay in our own persons part 
of the penalty which inevitably falls upon those who 
are our partners in guilt; for we cannot be guiltless 
when we encourage wrong in those about us. Truly 
we are not their judges, but we are our own; therefore, 
though we have no right to condemn them for doing 
what they may not see to be wrong, we are culpable 
the very instant we participate in and minister to their 

106 



Enigmas Confronted in Healing 

blunders. The idle girl who wastes her time in the 
parlor while her mother is slaving in the kitchen ought 
not to be encouraged in such shameful indolence, and 
it is fully as much, if not more, the fault of the silly 
parent than of the stupid girl that the latter is in such 
an immoral condition of dependence upon the toil of 
another. Those who encourage wrongs are them- 
selves wrongdoers, and though you are not called 
upon to condemn your neighbors because their stand- 
ards of morality differ from your own, you cannot be 
other than negligent and crime-fostering if you yield 
to unrighteous demands upon your own time and ener- 
gy. Fearlessness is absolutely essential to health and 
all high ethical attainment. 



107 



LESSON VI. 

OUR BODIES, WHAT ARE THEY? HOW SHALL WE 
DEAL WITH THEM? 

The general impression among those who are just 
beginning to look into any phase of mental healing, is 
that the physical body is sometimes in need of special 
treatment, and that in order to remove ailments which 
are manifested by means of it we must do something to 
the body in the way of directly treating it. 

Such a position is utterly unsound and illogical 
from any metaphysical point of view, because it intro- 
duces into mental practice methods which rightly be- 
long only in the field of physical medicine. We do 
not discountenance the honest efforts of the medical 
profession, because doctors of materia medica adminis- 
ter potions and powders in a physical manner which 
is consistent with their avowed claim that it is the 
physical structure which needs to be dealt with, and 
according to their theory, the disease which needs over- 
coming is lodged there. 

Mental healers, to be consistent, must take the op- 
posite stand and declare that men and women, them- 
selves, not their physical shapes, need treatment, con- 
sequently I give you a treatment or you give me a 
treatment, but I do not treat your physical body nor 

108 



Our Bodies, What Are They? 

do you treat mine, if we are truly and intelligently 
engaged in the work of mental treatment. 

A great deal of the opposition to mental suggestion 
with healing intent, which has long prevailed, and 
(though in far less degree than formerly) still pre- 
vails in the popular mind, is due to the fact that mental 
therapeutists themselves have not made sufficiently 
clear statements as to the nature of the work they are 
seeking to perform. 

When some demurrer rises to object to my treating 
his physical body with my thought, what can I say to 
him? I answer that I should never attempt to do 
anything of the sort, but that were he to apply to me 
for a mental treatment and I saw fit to respond to his 
request and give him one to the best of my ability, I 
should treat him to a lesson in the exercise of self- 
control over his body. 

Self -owner ship is very imperfectly admitted and 
very poorly comprehended, most people seeming to 
think that all power is delegated to somebody or some- 
thing other than themselves, and that they get all the 
benefits they receive through the action of external 
agencies, therefore if they are to recover or improve 
some outside agent must work on their behalf. This 
undeveloped theory of substitution is an error from 
the start and needs the most complete refutation ere 
we can reasonably hope to see rising up around us a 

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Health from Knowledge 

new and healthier race of humanity. My body is my 
property, and your body is yours, therefore you have 
no right to run my organism for me nor have I any 
right to run yours for you. 

When one is suffering from physical decreptitude 
it is an evidence that his psychic force does not suffi- 
ciently permeate his physical frame. The sleeping 
soul needs awakening out of sleep. The call must be 
made to the dormant energy of the sleeper. Long- 
fellow must have keenly realized this when he wrote 
those memorable words: 

"For the soul is dead that slumbers, 
And things are not what they seem." 

This sleeping psyche is in a deathlike trance and 
needs to be awakened out of sleep. "The soul that 
sinneth it shall die," is to many readers and comment- 
ators one of the most difficult passages in the entire 
Bible, but it is not difficult at all when we take the 
hint from Columbia's representative bard and meditate 
upon the philosophy embodied in his "Psalm of Life." 

The poet far oftener than the scholastic theologian 
throws light on dark sayings and mysterious parables, 
for the poet is apt to be a seer and seers are prophets. 
Prophets have the gift of interior discernment, and 
discernment is insight which peers below the veil of 
the temporary letter and discloses the immortal spirit 
of all true teaching. The sleeping psyche is a "dead" 

110 



Our Bodies, What Are They? 

or "lost" soul, but death and loss are only appear- 
ances; there are no real losses and no genuine deaths 
in the universe. Read thoughtfully Whittiers poem 
"A Lost Soul" and remember Edna LyalFs definition 
of lost — not yet found. 

When we realize that all disorders mapped out in 
the physical body are simply registrations of inward 
states, we shall see that to arouse is to heal, and that 
there can be no healing where there is no arousing of 
dormant consciousness to intelligent activity. To 
vivify and to revive will stand correctly as descriptive 
of the two distinct portions of the work needed to be 
done. My physical organism has no power to say or 
do anything. I who own it must operate it, and if 
I am too ignorant or thoughtless to operate it aright 
I need lessons in the proper management of the ma- 
chinery I hold in charge. 

Healers who are not teachers are very shallow bene- 
factors if benefactors they be, for they do but stave 
off a crisis which is sure to come sooner or later. As 
to those intellectually lazy people who want to get 
well and yet remain utterly ignorant of the science 
of health, can we be conscientious or sincere if we 
cater to their false wants, and go on encouraging them 
in their pet delusion that they are in no wise to blame 
for their sicknesses, while they go on believing that 
their ailments are all due to some force over which 



111 



Health from Knowledge 

they can exercise no control but which controls them 
most effectually? 

We must face the issue boldly and meet the adver- 
sary of false belief in hand to hand encounter wher- 
ever we discover it, but let no one say that this course 
of action means resistance to error by the employment 
of another kind of error. Such a doctrine is per- 
nicious in the extreme and cannot be made to har- 
monize with any correct view of healing ministries. 
Truth and falsehood are contradictories; the one ex- 
tinguishes the other, for they cannot possibly occupy 
the same ground together, their very natures being 
diametrically opposed, the one being the child of light, 
the other a creature of darkness. Let in light and 
darkness is no more. There never was any such en- 
tity as darkness, as there never was any such entity 
as weakness or poverty or any other negation which 
is but a name given to a nonentity. 

It ought not to be difficult for any rational child to 
understand the basic principle of mental healing, for 
it is quite as simple asABC and its very simplicity 
makes it peculiarly acceptable to the unsophisticated 
child-consciousness from which there is no mass of 
established false belief or strongly intrenched error 
to be removed. 

A child may complain of weakness which only 
means lack of strength, and directly a child does thus 

112 



Our Bodies, What Are They? 

complain he is ready to receive not only a mental treat- 
ment but a practical lesson in self-healing which is 
only self -training, self -enlargement, self -improve- 
ment, self -elevation or whatever else of that sort you 
choose to call it. Weakness is manifested in the 
physical organism, but weakness is an evident lack of 
conscious spiritual strength, and how shall we seek to 
arouse this weakling to a sense of power if not by an 
orderly course of suggestive treatment? Suggestions 
even though sometimes called hypnotic, are by no 
means necessarily connected either with natural or 
artificial sleep, therefore the word hypnotism (from 
the Greek hypnos, sleep) is not always a well-advised 
word. It is, however, very often used by people who 
are satisfied with simple suggestive treatment, but do 
not insist that sleep should be induced during treat- 
ment, though it must be confessed that natural sleep 
is not only a great aid to recovery of temporarily lost 
energy, but is a gateway through which much know- 
ledge can flow subjectively for subsequent objective 
externalization. 

Sleep of the physical organism is often wakeful- 
ness of the soul, while sleep of the soul is contempor- 
ary with intense bodily wakefulness. There are two 
sides to every one of us, an outside and an inside, 
and we have all two kinds of sight, outsight and in- 
sight, but very rarely do we find a seer like Sweden- 



113 



Health from Knowledge 

borg who can see and hear subjectively and objec- 
tively at the same time. Our physical organisms are 
two-sided, and we all know from experience that in- 
ternal disorders express themselves outwardly in 
course of evolutionary processes, unless they are over- 
come before they have progressed so far as to become 
visible on the surface of the physical structure. 

The theatre of all vital activities is within, there- 
fore internal remedies are admittedly superior to ex- 
ternal applications. Not what you rub onto the skin 
but what you take into the stomach is of chief import- 
ance from the dietary standpoint. All the benefit 
that can ever be derived from outward applications is 
that what is outwardly applied may soak in and 
eventually reach the vitals. Disorder being only the 
contradictory of order, proceeds to manifestation — 
just as its opposite, order, proceeds. Health is first 
an inward possession realized by the individual as his 
inherent birthright, then the entire external responds 
gradually to this indwelling force, and at length to 
the very surface of the skin is health made manifest. 
Disease also commences behind the physical scenes, 
on the other side of the screen we call the body, and 
eventually the body succumbs to the undermining pro- 
cess which is kept up in secret till at length the secret 
is out and the body tells the tale of woe in its every 
lineament. 



114 



Our Bodies, What Are They? 

To many people there seems a breath of falsehood 
in the statement, "I can see even though I appear 
blind" or "I can hear even though I appear deaf," 
and many kindred sayings, but no deep reasoner can 
object to such affirmations when he realizes that there 
must first take place on the unseen plane whatever is 
to be ultimately manifested on the physical or visible 
plane of operation. No one objects when he is told 
that roots of teeth must grow unseen before project- 
ing molars pierce the gums, and no one denies that 
roots of hair must develop below the scalp before the 
head can be covered with hirsute adornment. If, 
then, the order of nature's working be thus far ad- 
mitted, why not go still farther along the same line 
and allow that we must realize inwardly that which, 
later on, we shall express outwardly. 

We limit nature's operations by our impertinent 
interferences with her beneficent activities. Every 
word of hope is an assistant, every iota of expectation 
on the right side of a question is a help. We can at 
least refrain from making discouraging statements, 
and even though some of us may be prepared to grant 
less than others on the score of a complete remodeling 
of a wasted physique by mental methods, we can all 
at least afford to consider the advantages which must 
certainly accrue from mental treatment, even though 
the exterior results be not immediately forthcoming. 



115 



Health from Knowledge 

How would you treat a person suffering from blind- 
ness when expert oculists have declared there is no 
chance of his ever regaining sight ? is a question often 
put to mental practitioners. Our answer is at least 
twofold. Our first concern would be to affirm spirit- 
ual sight, (clairvoyance if you like to call it so,) and 
adhere strongly to the declaration that sight is a 
spiritual power. The psychical side of the faculty of 
sight, which does not depend on material orbs of 
vision, is then instantly appealed to, and there is no 
opposition manifested on the part of the average 
patient to a statement which transcends all phenomena 
to which oculists and opticians are accustomed to refer. 

We need not disguise our real sentiments, and we 
are less than honest if we seek to evade issues we are 
in honor bound to face. One of these telling issues is 
the question of how far we are justified in insisting 
that material sight will necessarily be gained or re- 
stored, as the case may be, through mental treatment. 
We have known of cases where there was every reason 
to believe that the optic nerve was entirely destroyed, 
giving evidence of such remarkable clairvoyance that 
they could safely go about alone in the most crowded 
parts of busy cities, as this "second sight," as it is 
sometimes called, entirely made up for total absence 
of external vision. The very best conditions for re- 
covering physical sight are afforded when the mind is 

116 



Our Bodies, What Are They? 

at rest, the patient having ceased to feel anxiety, or to 
indulge in worry over exterior benefits or the lack of 
them. That wonderful force in nature, Vis Medi- 
catrioc Naturae, which is always working in the direc- 
tion of healing is something we can never wholly de- 
fine, but we know we are giving it the freest oppor- 
tunity to operate when we have ceased to interfere 
with its beneficent activities. 

If persons can only be led to discontinue all thought 
about their "poor eyes," "poor ears," "poor lungs," 
"poor stomachs," those poor members will soon grow 
richer. Though we cannot intellectually coincide 
with so absurd a statement as "you have no body," 
"you have no eyes," or any other unscientific jargon, 
which must appear ludicrous to the majority of mode- 
rately intelligent people, we can readily conceive that 
out of experiences of a beneficial sort accruing (at 
least in seeming) from such strange denials, may be 
evolved a rational philosophy of at least a single de- 
partment of healing practice. The physical body 
does not need the amount of treatment it ordinarily 
receives ; it is indeed far better off when let alone and 
"left to nature," than when perpetually irritated by 
some one's excited mental action brought continually 
to bear upon it. 

Some people are so peculiar in their mental make- 
up that they are only reached at first by extravagant 

117 



Health from Knowledge 

statements which, later on, they come to regard as un- 
scientific and absurd, and as a vast number of people 
who are capable of doing rudimentary work in the 
field of mental therapeutics are feelers rather than 
ktiowerS; sentimentalists rather than rationalists, they 
are in no way deterred by incongruous expressions; 
on the contrary they revel in them, regarding them as 
the language of a noble cult altogether superior to the 
commonplaceness of accepted terminology. Deliver- 
ance from fear concerning the physical organism is 
the object sought, and in order to gain this end re- 
course is sometimes had to mirth -provoking language, 
a circumstance we are inclined to deprecate because it 
occasions needless confusion and arouses in the popu- 
lar mind much preventable hostility. 

To be redeemed from all fear of physical distemper 
it is necessary to take all thought off those organs 
which have heretofore been affected parts; therefore, 
if one shall simply affirm "I am spiritual, my real 
body is spiritual," such a statement is of great help, 
and it certainly does not imply the absurdity contained 
in the denial of the existence of the physical body or 
any part of it. We have specially remarked upon 
these aspects of the question, because not only the 
medical profession, which is now taking quite kindly 
to "suggestive" treatment, but many outside the ranks 
of medicine are interesting themselves in showing up 

118 



Our Bodies, What Are They? 

the fallacies and inconsistencies of a form of diction 
which some people actually think is an integral part 
of mental treatment, while it is only a vanishing 
idiosyncrasy. 

Deafness is a very persistent malady and is almost 
inevitable wherever stubborness is fostered and ag- 
gressive self-will is extolled. Deafness proceeds men- 
tally from obstinacy, also from severe mental strain. 
The great musical composer Beethoven with all his 
excellencies was, according to his most friendly bio- 
graphers, of a very stubborn disposition even from 
earliest childhood, and though he suffered from vari- 
ous other ailments in addition to deafness, it was his 
hardness of hearing which caused him his chief dis- 
tress as it hampered most his career as a musician. 
To say that he rose to sublime heights, despite this 
painful limitation, is not saying that the limitation 
was no defect, and when we look still closer into this 
great man's career and further analyze his character, 
we find that another of his grave defects was indis- 
crimination, as evidenced in his foolish spoiling of his 
youthful nephew upon whom he showered every ad- 
vantage, and who turned out as badly as over-indulged 
children are apt to do. It may seem to some of 
Beethoven's enthusiastic admirers little short of sac- 
rilege to thus daringly allude to weaknesses in the 
nature of so truly exemplary a man, but his innate 

119 



Health from Knowledge 

nobleness of temper caused him to urge upon his dear- 
est friend, that should his biography be written his 
weakness, as well as his strong points, should be ex- 
hibited. We ought not to censure or to harshly criti- 
cise the petty weaknesses, which cast small shadows 
across the great and noble lives of the world's illus- 
trious heroes, at the same time we are guilty of no 
ingratitude or irreverence when we seek to learn need- 
ed lessons even from the frailties of those we most ad- 
mire and love. 

As conspicuous virtues are examples and inspir- 
ations, so are the limitations of others warnings to us 
that we may avoid what is unhandsome in our own be- 
havior. Two rules should always be observed by those 
who seek to heal: One is that no error may ever be 
condoned; the other is that no weakness may ever be 
held up to ridicule or shame, so as to depress the very 
people we are most earnestly seeking to deliver out of 
darkness. Speak your word bravely on the side of 
the particular aspect or phase of strength which any 
manifest weakness opposes, but on no account allow 
that weakness to form the subject of the treatment. 
We need to be very rigid in the use of words, remem- 
bering that the following noble texts contain no idle 
threats and no empty promises: "For every idle word 
that men shall speak they must render an account in 
the day of judgment," and ,"By thy words thou shalt 

120 



Our Bodies, What Are They? 

be justified and by thy words thou shalt be con- 
demned." 

Nothing can be further from salutary than the mis- 
taken theory that diseases are to be treated mentally, 
yet we frequently hear persons of good average in- 
telligence inquire, "How do you treat catarrh, asthma, 
or some other malady," as though it were necessary, 
or even permissible, (which it is not) to treat a malady 
at all? Correct expressions are such as these: "I am 
treating Harry for perfect hearing, George for per- 
fect sight, Charles for perfect digestion, James for 
perfect breathing," and so on through the entire list 
of legitimate and desirable special treatments, while 
beyond all specializations and specifications there is a 
general treatment applicable to everybody, which can 
be mentioned in such phrase as: "I am treating Han- 
nah for perfect health." 

The two sets of phrases above mentioned are both 
correct, but the latter is greater, because more inclusive 
and universally appropriate, than the former. Per- 
fect health and its enjoyment must include sight, hear- 
ing, breathing and all else that goes to make up a satis- 
factory and harmonious condition. We always dwell 
particularly upon this greater, fuller mode of treat- 
ment, not only because of its wide inclusiveness, but 
because it is often very difficult to determine what par- 
ticular good thought needs sending out to a special 

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Health from Knowledge 

patient. Specific treatments are, of course, lawful, 
where the felt or manifest need is for the cultivation 
or enlargement of some special excellence, such as 
patience, gentleness, firmness or any other quality 
which may be insufficiently expressed. 

Irritability of temper produces skin eruptions and 
gives a general burning, itching sensation on the sur- 
face of the body. 

Moles, warts, corns, bunions and all sorts of annoy- 
ing little disfigurements, which are sometimes painful 
as well as unsightly, show plainly the effects of worry 
over material trifles, which do not always, however, 
appear trifles by any means to the worrier, who has 
so exaggerated the importance of petty details that 
molehills have become mountains in his esteem. 
"Don't worry" is an excellent motto, but so fine a piece 
of advice is difficult to follow, because it is couched in 
negative language. The words "don't worry" sug- 
gest worrying, for you are using the name of the very 
fault you are seeking to help yourselves and others to 
avoid when you organize a "Don't Worry Club," use- 
ful as such an organization, in some respects, undoubt- 
edly is, until the public grows to the employment of 
better language. 

So long has the world been pestered with "don't" 
that it seems almost impossible at first to confine one- 
self to a scientific, which is an exclusively affirmative, 

122 



Our Bodies, What Are They? 

vocabulary. "This is the way, walk ye in it." "This 
do and thou shalt live." "Wash seven times in Jor- 
dan," and all such commands (not prohibitions) are 
healing formulas because they point out the right 
road and do not suggest the wrong, though they clear- 
ly reveal error to be error by proving truth to be 
truth. No one ever recites the Multiplication Table 
correctly without refuting every false statement that 
can be imagined in connection with multiplication, 
therefore the Multiplication Table is a universal heal- 
ing formula and can be successfully introduced every- 
where. 

We are interested in the formation of Metaphysical 
Societies, the members of which recite the Multipli- 
cation Table with definite intentions. Very great 
good can accrue from so doing, because we find there- 
in a common ground of agreement between Jews and 
Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants, Spiritualists and 
Materialists, and all denominations besides. When 
there is a way open to us for proving the power of 
benevolent thought we ought not to refuse to take 
advantage of it, and when it comes to the recitation 
of the Multiplication Table with a common intention 
and expectation combined, we can none of us object 
provided we are in sympathy with the end for which 
it is recited. Both public and private recitations are 
beneficial, and to test their efficiency it is only neces- 



123 



Health from Knowledge 

sary to fix upon a laudable object and repeat the 
tables with the intention and expectation that good 
will result, not from a monotonous, parrot-like re- 
petition of words, but in consequence of united desire 
and expectation. With most people some tangible 
aid to concentration seems desirable, if not positively 
necessary, and as you may ransack the archives of 
the whole world's literature and fail to find any philo- 
sophical or religious sentences which everybody will 
agree upon, we have fallen back on mathematical 
certitudes. 

As we are positively centered in our conviction that 
there is a science of health and a purely scientific mode 
of mental healing, we are especially glad to introduce 
into our own work and recommend to others a set of 
statements belonging to what is universally acknow- 
ledged as exact science. We are not seeking to en- 
force a restricted method of working upon any of our 
readers ; we only testify to what we have proved in our 
experience, and we have certainly noticed how remark- 
able are the benefits flowing from a purely concordant 
act. Disease is nothing but discord, no matter, there- 
fore, where it may appear most prominently, it is but 
a molecular discord evidencing a prior mental discord. 
All discords can be vanquished by the installation of 
harmony, and they can be vanquished in no other 
manner. 



124 



Our Bodies, What Are They? 

As the law of correspondences works universally, 
and the outer must sooner or later come to fully corres- 
pond with the inner, it cannot be difficult to see that 
necessary diagnosis is not diagnosis of disease but of 
necessity. What do you stand most in need of? 
should be the query raised. Having decided that 
some particular phase of good is not being sufficiently 
expressed at a given point, you must set to work to 
acknowledge its potency and begin to declare that it 
will assuredly show forth where it has not yet become 
manifest. 

As the subject matter of this lesson is susceptible of 
limitless expansion, and more words on our part would 
not necessarily add anything to the real value of the 
teaching, we now dismiss this particular branch of 
instruction, not because we have said any final word 
concerning correspondences, but because we think we 
have called enough attention to those necessary key- 
notes which intelligent readers will take up for them- 
selves and expand into voluminous harmonies. The 
essential points to be kept in view are principally 
these : 

First. Always affirm the reality of your best and 
highest hope. 

Second. Seek the thing you most desire and sum- 
mon it to you through the agency of persistent affir- 
mation. 



125 



Health from Knowledge 

Third. Seek to diagnose in your own case and in 
the case of others, needs and how to supply them. 

When these considerations and meditations are 
taken into daily life, and constitute a guide for daily 
conduct, it will soon appear that discords, troubles and 
vexations of every sort are growing less and less con- 
tinually, even unto final total disappearance. Errors 
and discords cannot remain where truth is boldly and 
constantly affirmed, though they can continue to mul- 
tiply (and often increase rapidly) in defiance of all 
attempts to put them down by naming them and then 
decrying their existence. 

We need to keep in closest touch with the realm of 
high ideals and spiritually embodied entities of the 
noblest types in order that we, by virtue of such fellow- 
ship, may correspond with celestial influences and con- 
tinually speak and receive true answers in the course 
of heavenly conversation. 



126 



LESSON VII. 

THE SPIRITUAL MAN HIS POWERS AND PRIVILEGES. 

In speaking of the Spiritual Man we do not wish 
to convey the idea of a human entity apart from the 
man or woman with whom we are accustomed to deal. 
Our object in using the term Spiritual Man being to 
call attention to that higher view of human nature in 
general which raises the thought of humankind above 
the plane, not only of sense but also of rational in- 
tellect. As the larger can and does always contain the 
lesser, while it is utterly impossible for the smaller to 
enfold the larger, it stands to reason that an exalted 
view of human powers and privileges can, and assur- 
edly will, embrace all minor conceptions. 

The theory of evolution can only be logically ex- 
plained in the light of the previous involution of that 
which is subsequently evolved. The process of evolu- 
tion marks degrees in expression culminating at 
length in perfect manifestation of all that the primal 
unit contains. Humanity standing at the apex of the 
pyramid of progressive existence contains all that has 
ever been expressed previous to the advent of the 
human race on earth. When we speak of the human 
race we are mentioning not one species or genus, as 
though we were describing some special type of bird 
or beast, but we are confronting the sum of all lower 

127 



Health from Knowledge 

manifestations of life on this planet plus that mysteri- 
ous something, which the world has agreed to call the 
human soul, which in contra-distinction from mere 
animal consciousness of existence, which may be but 
mortal, is pre-eminently regarded as immortal. 

The word soul is clearly derived from Sol, the Sun, 
which is the ruler of all the planets and satellites found 
in the system of which it is the parent, master and 
central luminary. No astronomer of ancient or 
modern time has been able, so far as we know, to dis- 
cover a single element in the composition of any 
planet, moon, asteroid, meteor or aerolite which is not 
included in the constitution of the Sun. 

We can imagine a time when the sun reigned alone 
in this vast field of space, which is now peopled with 
solar progeny, but we cannot conceive of any one of 
the several planets, which now revolve around the solar 
disk, having an existence before its birth from the 
parental orb. 

In like manner we can conceive philosophically of 
the central germ of human life pre-existing ere yet it 
had begun to manifest through the agency of off- 
spring. The Spiritual Man is the real abiding en- 
tity; all existent to this entity results therefrom and 
is dependent thereon. The ancient astrologers, who 
were also the most learned astronomers of their day, 

128 



The Spiritual Man 

anticipated Ralph Waldo Emerson in his immortal 
saying: 

"I am owner of the sphere, 
The seven stars and the solar year," 

for they taught that the truly wise man, instead of 
being "under the stars" rules within himself all the 
influences which the various planets and the moon are 
said by astrologers to exert over the average human 
being. 

What is it, let us ask, to be a wise man in the sense 
in which Solomon among the Hebrews and Solon 
among the Greeks were considered wise? The an- 
swer is not far to seek. We are all unwise before we 
have grown wise; we must be children before we can 
be mature men and women in understanding. Chil- 
dren must be uneducated and inexperienced before 
they have embodied the lessons which they are called 
upon to learn in the many and varied schools of life's 
experience. We do not send children to school be- 
cause we think them depraved or consider them 
naughty, but for the distinct purpose of training them 
in the exercise of dormant faculties. 

We can readily imagine a sublime future period 
called poetically and prophetically a Golden Age, 
when there will be no sin, sickness, strife or any phase 
of discord upon earth, but even in those halcyon days 

129 



Health from Knowledge 

we can picture to ourselves delightful school-houses, 
highly cultured and amiable teachers, and lovely chil- 
dren flocking gladly to the temples of learning which 
must certainly constitute some of the most charming 
palaces in those days. We have all read many times 
in the New Testament that the Holy Child increased 
in knowledge as he grew in age and stature. This 
statement has always been accepted as an authentic 
portion of the Gospel narrative by Christian thinkers 
of all denominations, proving that even the theological 
doctrine of a Divine incarnation has in no way mili- 
tated against the reasonable admission that a perfect 
human life develops through successive stages from in- 
fancy to maturity on all planes of expression. Real- 
izing that growth signifies development or expansion, 
but not radical alteration in nature, we may truly say 
that in the highest sense we unfold, but we do not 
alter ,, by which we mean that though we enlarge as to 
our outward expression of life we undergo no alter- 
ation in the region of primal substance. 

It is self -evidently absurd to endeavor to educate 
a child beyond his latent capacity or to force upon him 
work of any kind for the performance of which he 
is organically unfitted ; but though this conclusion ap- 
pears self-evident we have no right to assume that an 
individual is unfitted by nature for the fulfillment of 
any task congenial to his tastes. We have positively 



130 



The Spiritual Man 

no right to call anybody incorrigible or to pronounce 
any condition absolutely incurable, for our knowledge 
of the latent ability and most interior disposition of 
those about us is often so superficial that it is the 
height of presumption on our part to judge finally 
from surface seemings. We are all so much greater 
within than we appear without, we can all perform 
so much more in imagination than we actually manu- 
facture that every one of us, the moment one begins 
to reflect, becomes conscious of an ideal higher self. 
This higher self is the real man or woman, the abid- 
ing ego, that which persists in declaring to us our own 
immortality. Not infrequently do we hear learned 
professors discuss the pros and cons of life immortal. 
When they are at their best they are ever ready to 
account for our persistent declaration that we are im- 
mortal on the ground of the voice of that which is 
immortal speaking within us. 

At a Summer School of Philosophy, in Southern 
California, the writer was privileged to hear some very 
thoughtful remarks on this ever important question 
from a popular Professor of Ethics, who had in a 
previous lecture told the many fashionable ladies in 
his audience that their very conspicuous style of dress 
was due to the fact that they desired to enlarge their 
personalities. In much soberer vein, when descanting 
on immortality the same lecturer dealt with the pro- 

131 



Health from Knowledge 

blem of our belief in our continuous spiritual indi- 
viduality, very wisely calling attention to the under- 
lying cause for that faithless doubt and miserable un- 
certainty which so frequently shrouds in almost im- 
penetrable gloom the prospects of future individual 
being. "We are," said he, "both mortal and immor- 
tal; on our material side we die, but on our spiritual 
side we live forever. When we confine our thoughts 
to that personality of ours, which is just as perishable 
as the raiment which covers it, we can catch no 
glimpses of a life beyond the confines of the tomb ; but 
when we are engaged in meditation upon our higher 
side, we discover the truth that that plane of our con- 
sciousness can, does, and must endure forever." 

When so good an illustration or so wise a reflection 
is thoughtfully analyzed, it will soon appear that the 
so-called higher side of humanity is the whole of 
humanity strictly speaking, for whatever is below or 
external to this can be but an offshoot from it, a mere 
instrument formed by the soul for its temporary use, 
endowed for a brief span of fleeting time with dele- 
gated life, a life which must sooner or later be indrawn 
and re-absorbed in the source whence it proceeded, un- 
less the instrument be so perpetually remodeled that 
it can be transformed and eventually transfigured 
without palpable dissolution. 

It can never be either wise or reasonable to estimate 



132 



The Spiritual Man 

anything below its highest conceivable possibilities, but 
while we invariably do well to gaze steadfastly upon 
our loftiest ideals, we must guard against impatience 
when we dicover that though they can be gradually, 
they cannot be instantaneously, actualized in all their 
fullness. Before all plurals lies the one unalterable 
singular. Our powers are but variant expressions of 
our power; our privileges are but manifold varieties 
of our essential unitary prerogative as children of the 
Highest. Whatever one human being has already done 
that every other human being who truly desires to do 
likewise can certainly accomplish. Our desires pro- 
ceed from within us, the aspirations which burst forth 
and well up from the inmost of our being are just so 
many partial revelations of what we all contain, our 
full containment always exceeding its fullest expres- 
sion. 

It is a very great step forward for the race and for 
the individual to accept the truism that "out of nothing 
nothing comes." There must be something within us 
which is fully adequate to account for all that issues 
from us in the shape of prayer, determination, resolu- 
tion, ambition, etc., etc. Having used the word ambi- 
tion we desire to contrast it with the much higher term 
aspiration, by which it is completely supplanted as 
moral evolution proceeds. An ambitious person is usu- 
ally very egotistical, having not yet grown to appreci- 

133 



Health from Knowledge 

ate the gospel of mutualism, but the aspirational hero 
has become elevated to the rank of a phlilanthropist 
who, interested in the welfare of all humankind, rises 
consciously as one among many brethren, knowing, 
and rejoicing in the knowledge, that as he climbs and 
soars he becames an increasing channel of inspiration 
and illumination to myriads of fellow travelers. 

It has long been a tenet of Oriental philosophy, and 
also a doctrine of Esoteric Christianity, that all private 
personal ambition must be merged in active, efficient 
search after the common good. No one whose horizon 
is so limited that he considers self only, can do other 
than work injury to the very self he seeks exclusively 
to benefit, for so intimate are our mutual relations 
and so inter-dependent are we at all times and in all 
ways, that the quality of thought we entertain con- 
cerning others is unconsciously absorbed by them and 
reflected back upon ourselves. A thoughtful con- 
sideration of all that is implied in this proposition 
will, and necessarily must, open the way for a com- 
pletely scientific, as well as purely philosophic and 
broadly religious, explanation of the working of the 
law whereby all things which come to us, come 
through the operation of the omnipresent force of at- 
traction. 

Nothing can be fairer than the affirmation that all 
people and all things should be sampled at their best, 

134 



The Spiritual Man 

for it is only the finest and fullest expression which 
in any adequate way proves the real nature of that 
which is manifest. The interest attaching not only 
to horse shows, dog shows, and flower shows, but also 
to public exhibitions of beautiful human infants, 
proves that the popular mind is always delighted to 
witness a display of more than ordinary excellence in 
any department of life or industry. This beautiful, 
normal, and altogether reasonable preference for 
beauty over deformity, intelligence over ignorance, 
and perfect health in place of any symptom of dis- 
ease, clearly evinces the innate appreciation of sym- 
metry and deep seated desire for perfection which 
underlies the entire fabric of human emotion. There 
is indeed a morbid curiosity which delights to inspect 
the pathological, but let us hope there is within this 
morbid tendency a real desire on the part of the mul- 
titude to find a lasting remedy for those mysterious 
and perplexing ailments, the exhibition of which for 
the time being, seems to gratify a perverted taste. No 
one is ever heard to express that delight at viewing 
imperfection which spontaneously results from be- 
holding the sublime, the majestic, or the exquisite. 
The esthetic faculty, which has sometimes been ridi- 
culed, because curiously manifested in some persons, 
is nothing less than a bursting forth of a native im- 
pulse toward the love of righteousness. 

135 



Health from Knowledge 

When Matthew Arnold wrote so much of "sweet 
reasonableness," of "sweetness and light," and often 
very powerfully concerning the eternal force which 
ever makes for righteousness, the high moral influ- 
ence which his essays exerted over a large company 
of more or less sceptical readers, was due to the pri- 
mal fact that in all the literary productions of that 
very scholarly man there ran a deep vein of true op- 
timism, despite the seeming pessimism of some of his 
conclusions. 

We cannot make progress in any direction until 
we are firmly grounded in the faith that such prog- 
ress is completely possible as well as intensely desir- 
able; the importance, therefore, of a radically opti- 
mistic theory of human nature cannot be overesti- 
mated. 

That there are difficulties in the way of immedi- 
ately and completely justifying the grandest con- 
ceivable view of human life we frankly and willingly 
admit, but these difficulties vanish as we pursue our 
mental journey from the surface of the ocean of hu- 
man expression by continually diving deeper and 
deeper into the calm waters beneath, to which the 
stormy surface offers no resemblance. Such frequent 
expressions as "good at heart" and many of like im- 
port are general tributes paid to the deeper, higher, 
and holier self of those very individuals whose outer 

136 



The Spiritual Man 

personalities are at present extremely disagreeable 
and whose actual conduct is often disgraceful in the 
extreme. 

The very fact that you can appeal to a person's 
sense of honor, thereby making him ashamed of his 
own fault, proves that there is within him something 
which rebukes his own wrongdoing, and no rebuke 
can ever be successfully administered except by that 
which points a nobler way. We are essentially and 
potentially exactly as strong, as wise, as beautiful, as 
pure, and as gifted as we ever wish to be even in our 
most exalted hours of felt communion with the abso- 
lutely divine. There is no adequate explanation for 
human ideals and aspirations save that which is con- 
tained within that sublime theory of human nature, 
which pronounces human nature one with divine na- 
ture. The highest of which we can conceive is already 
ours, seeing that we have apprehended it; our ap- 
prehension affording proof of our ability to embody. 
When Thomas a'Kempis wrote his masterly work 
"On the Imitation of Christ" he gave to the world in 
a priceless gem of literature a connecting link be- 
tween the doctrinal theology of the early Christian 
church, and the so-called new metaphysical opinions 
which are at present greatly agitating Christendom. 

There is not so much difference as we have been 
sometimes falsely led to suppose between Alexand- 

187 



Health from Knowledge 

rian philosophy, Hebrew ideas of righteousness, and 
Oriental mysticism, even though the Hebrew, the 
Hindoo, and the Greek, do not always seem to assim- 
ilate easily. It is really absurd to call the metaphys- 
ical thought of Europe and America to-day "new" 
when it is a re-vivification, on a greatly extended 
scale, of the highest philosophical conceptions united 
with the purest moral teachings of all the greatest 
seers and sages whose presence in the world has most 
greatly blessed humanity. Though the foregoing 
conclusion seems inevitable it is but just, and at the 
same time highly encouraging, to trace the ever 
widening circuit in which these noble thoughts are 
moving. 

We can scarecly compare, except by way of con- 
trast, our present social state with that of Egypt, 
Greece, Rome, India, or Palestine in the long ago. 
Brilliant gems of thought of priceless worth have 
come to us through milleniums of time, but these 
choice spiritual jewels are to be attributed not to the 
average condition of the people in those lands, at 
those times, but only to the exceptional genius of the 
prophets of those countries and periods. To-day we 
are universalizing, we are daily becoming increas- 
ingly cosmopolitan both in theory and practice, and, 
thanks to the widespread influence of common educa- 
tion, what one person really knows is easily commu- 

138 



The Spiritual Man 

nicated to all others who are willing to share the 
knowledge. Though our present civilization has 
many drawbacks, — among which are the extremely 
artificial ways of living adopted by a large percent- 
age of those who make up society with a big S, — per- 
haps the most lamentable feature, — it is not wise, 
nor is it just to dwell too largely upon the evils of 
this artificial condition, for the seeds of its own death 
are in it, while the growing intelligence of the hour 
is ever leading even the most slavish devotees of fash- 
ion in constantly growing numbers to abandon a po- 
sition, which when tried to its uttermost proves itself 
entirely unsatisfactory. It is only fair to the great 
multitude of the unchurched in these days to regard 
disaffection toward ecclesiastical institutions as a 
not altogether unhealthy reaction from the blind re- 
ligious formalism which went before and led up to the 
present departure from time-honored standards of 
orthodoxy. 

The words of an agnostic orator may be often 
harsh, repellent, and at times ridiculous, but had it 
not been for the utterly spurious view of human na- 
ture promulgated from Christian pulpits in the ears 
of generation after generation, representing man was 
too vile to live, and God as an implacable tyrant, these 
very assailants of Christianity would never have 
gained a hearing, and we very much doubt whether 

139 



Health from Knowledge 

they would have wished to say anything at all re- 
sembling what they are saying now. 

However much we may cherish a noble conception 
of Supreme Benevolence, and however tenaciously 
we may cling to a consoling and exhilarating view of 
our own spiritual immortality, we cannot pretend that 
we are sorry when we perceive that many talented 
people are engaged in the work of demolishing the 
clouds and screens, which have long concealed the es- 
sential verities, for which true religion vouches. 
While the method of the reconstructionist differs en- 
tirely from that of the iconoclast, the idol-breaker, — 
should he succeed in destroying every image he as- 
sails, — could not logically disturb the position of 
those who rest their confidence neither in man-made 
creeds nor in pretentious institutions, but solely in the 
realm where intuitive preception of truth does away 
with the necessity for external authority. 

It is deeply encouraging to note that the lowest 
views of human nature, not the highest, are those 
which are being most ruthlessly assailed. Modern lit- 
erature abounds with diatribe levelled at shams, 
frauds, hypocrisies, and all else that is mean, con- 
temptible, and unworthy, while the popular mind 
takes kindly to all the praise that is heartily bestowed 
upon genuine merit and real nobility. The great 
newspapers of to-day are sadly prone to give dispro- 

140 



The Spiritual Man 

portionate publicity to the evils which afflict our times, 
but the proprietors, editors, and reporters connected 
with these journals all disclaim any admiration for the 
iniquities they describe, and declare that their chief 
object (aside from making money) in exposing in- 
iquities, is to create a popular sentiment in exactly the 
opposite direction. It is also very pleasing to observe 
that however fiercely a really good book may be at- 
tacked by spiteful critics, no criticism however malig- 
nant can permanently prevent the author of such a 
work from wearing the well-earned laurels of popular 
esteem and affection. 

Concerning great paintings, noble plays, and all 
else that appeals to the multitude, real worth does ac- 
tually — and in these days not very slowly — make its 
way to general recognition. The occupants of the 
upper gallery in a low class theatre are the very read- 
iest of all people in the community to vociferously 
applaud heroism and decry villainy whenever depict- 
ed on their favorite melo-dramatic stage. This is, in 
itself, a convincing proof that the evangelists have 
told the unvarnished truth when they have informed 
us that the common people heard Jesus gladly, 
though the scheming ecclesiastical and civil politicians 
operating in the Roman Empire many centuries ago 
determined to extirpate, if possible, all teachers and all 

141 



Health from Knowledge 

teaching which militated against their own corrupt 
interests. 

No great philanthropist has ever been rejected by 
popular vote, unless that vbte has been unfairly ob- 
tained by the misrepresentations of unscrupulous 
demagogues. The uneducated populace may be mis- 
led by falsehood and cunning, but the great popular 
heart is never wrong even when its head is most de- 
mented. The love of righteousness rests in so secure 
a depth of human feeling that it it absolutely impos- 
sible to overthrow it, and it is there that we find abid- 
ing ground for confidence in the ultimate resurrection 
and glorification of the entire body of our great hu- 
man family. Ineffectual may prove the most care- 
fully devised and earnestly propagated "reforms," 
for not one of them can prove ultimately successful in 
accomplishing intended good, until all the measures 
adopted shall agree with the underlying motives of 
the enterprise. To take it for granted that there is 
awakenable good in every human being, and then 
proceed to devise means for its awakenment is wise, 
logical and kindly, and, in the long run, sure to suc- 
ceed. 

The true scientist has ever at hand the only sure 
remedy for public as well as for private ills. The next 
great step taken by practitioners of divine healing, 
will be to apply the teaching so loudly praised as a 

142 



The Spiritual Man 

healer of sick bodies, to the great body politic which 
sorely needs healing at present. 

Nothing but truth and justice can ever really sat- 
isfy our deepest human instincts. 



148 



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